Griffin’s Playoff Performance Encouraging for Clippers

In the Clippers’ first-round exit in the 2013 playoffs, Blake Griffin averaged just over 13 points and five boards in 26 minutes per game. An ankle injury limited him severely in the series with the Memphis Grizzlies, but he was far from the player he’d become entering the 2013-14 playoffs.

In 13 games these playoffs, Griffin averaged 23.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. He attacked the rim constantly, attempting over seven free throws per game. While point guard Chris Paul struggled at times down the stretch of games, it was Griffin who looked like the Clippers’ best player.

There’s a reason Griffin was third in MVP voting this season.

Paul is still in his prime at age 29 and should remain a top point guard in the NBA for years to come, but it’s Griffin who is still developing as a player. And it’s scary that at just 25 years old he outplayed everyone in the league not named LeBron James or Kevin Durant.

Griffin was looked at as just an athlete and a dunker only a few years ago. Then he developed a handful of post moves. Last season he began to shoot mid range jumpers consistently. In 2013-14 he showed off the ability to take a rebound and push the ball up the court himself.

With Paul missing games, DeAndre Jordan a non-factor to create his own offense and a roster filled with mostly jump shooters (Jordan Crawford excluded), the ability to run an offense completely through Griffin adds a whole new element to the Clippers offense.

The San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder aren’t going away. The Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors are one player away from truly being scary. Teams like the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers are young and talented, too. The Clippers are a contender now, but that status is not guaranteed.

But with Griffin’s rise into the NBA’s elite, it’ll be difficult to knock them out of that group.

Durant’s Performance Exposes Clippers’ Need

There have been plenty of places to lay blame since the Clippers were knocked out of the Western Conference playoffs in the second round. You can blame the refs for calls at the end of Game 5. Chris Paul can be blamed for some out-of-character turnovers—he wouldn’t disagree. And there’s no doubt that the black cloud hanging over the organization deserves some of the blame as well.

But the Clippers are out of the playoffs because they simply could not contain Kevin Durant.

Slowing the NBA’s newest MVP has been something of an impossibility this season as he averaged career highs of 32 points and 5.5 assists per game while grabbing more than seven rebounds. And he did all that while narrowly missing out on consecutive 50/40/90 seasons (his 2013-14 field-goal, three-point and free-throw percentages: 50.3/39.1/87.3).

He was even better against the Clippers in Round 2, averaging 33.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists in the six games, including a 39-point, 16-rebound performance in the series-ending Game 6.

Game 5 Twitter Coverage

Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Clippers and Golden State Warriors started just hours after NBA commissioner Adam Silver suspended Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the league for life and said that he will attempt to force Sterling to sell the team. After falling flat in Game 4 after finding out about the tape of Sterling’s racist comments, the Clippers played with a renewed level of energy, trailing for just 1:12 the entire game.

The @Lob_City_Blog Twitter account follows Clippers players, beat writers, team accounts and general NBA writers. During Game 5, I retweeted Andrew Han (@andrewhan), a writer at ClipperBlog, Scott Howard Cooper (SHowardCooper) of NBA.com, and after the game I retweeted quotes from JG (@andthefoul) at AndTheFoul.com. They provided excellent statistics and quotes that added to the standard play-by-play coverage. I also retweeted the Clippers (@LAClippers), who had a Tweet that summed up the emotions of the day.

Wednesday’s Lunchtime Lobs

Tuesday night the Clippers won Game 5 with the Warriors 113-103 to take a 3-2 series lead, but the game meant much more than your typical first-round bout. The win came less than 12 hours after NBA commissioner Adam Silver banned Clippers owner Donald Sterling from the NBA for life for making racist comments. It came days after coach Doc Rivers’ made it clear that his future with the team would be uncertain if Sterling remained his boss. And it came in a game in which the Warriors were prepare to walk off the court in protest of Sterling. That the Clippers were able to come together and win after all that is almost as chilling as the “We. Are. One.” chants in the third quarter.

• Video: Post-game press conferences from Rivers, and Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.
• The Warriors can’t win this series if their best player has more turnovers than made field goals.
• This photo gallery from Tuesday’s game tells a great story about what Adam Silver’s decision meant for Clippers fans and players alike.
• Are there anybody who doesn’t want to buy a piece of the Clippers if Sterling is forced to sell the team? Apparently Diddy, Dr. Dre, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Frankie Munoz,  Matt Damon, Oprah Winfrey and Oscar De La Hoya are among the growing number of celebrities who have shown varying levels of interest in becoming one of the newest NBA owners.
• The first day in the post-Donald Sterling era for the Clippers.
• What is the next move for the NBA after Silver’s decision?

Friday’s Lunchtime Lobs

Game 3 between the Clippers and Warriors was the perfect finish to a crazy night of NBA basketball, complete with monster dunks and a last-second no-call. The Warriors proved that they aren’t about to go quietly into the night.

• For the third straight game, the Warriors cannot figure out how to slow down Blake Griffin.
• “He’s everything to our team right now,” said Darren Collison of Griffin. 
• DeAndre Jordan is making the case that he should have been Defensive Player of the Year (and four other Game 3 takeaways).
• Grantland’s Bill Simmons writes that instead of being overrated, “Chris Paul is better than you think.”
• Matt Barnes jammed his toe in Game 4 but expects to be ready to go.

Thursday’s Lunchtime Lobs

The Clippers are on the road tonight for a pivotal Game 3 against the Warriors, yet the No. 1 story on the Los Angeles Times’ Clippers page as of 12:20 EST is about Kobe Bryant, you know, the guy who got paid $30 million to play six games this season. Since it apparently takes some digging to find actual stories about the Clippers, here you go:

• Chris Paul missed practice Wednesday but expects to be ready for Game 3. He will again be tasked with defending Steph Curry.
• Maurice Speights’ play against Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan has been among the biggest surprises of the series thus far.
• To slow Griffin down, the Warriors may need to double team him defensively and should try to get him in foul trouble by attacking the basket.
• Doc Rivers used his bigger wings—Matt Barnes, J.J. Redick and Danny Granger—much more in Game 2 than in the series opener. He should keep that trend going, as they’ve been their top three wings in net rating so far.

Game 3, Clippers at Warriors: 10:30 EST, 7:30 PST

Wednesday’s Lunchtime Lobs

In a travel day for the Clippers, fans will have to wait an extra day for Game 3, but there’s still plenty of NBA action on tonight to help you get your fix.

• If Blake Griffin dominates like he did in Game 2, the Clippers are genuine title contenders.
• The Clippers will have to deal with some of the NBA’s loudest fans on the road at the “Roaracle.”
• Video: Do the Warriors have a chance after the Game-2 blowout?
• J.J. Redick and Chris Paul did video interviews with the media before leaving Los Angeles for Game 3.
• Despite playing significantly fewer games than Chris Paul or Blake Griffin, Kobe Bryant holds the title of California’s “Most Googled Athlete.”

Tuesday’s Lunchtime Lobs

Today marks the first edition of Lob City Blog’s “Lunchtime Lobs,” which will share the day’s best Clippers-related stories for you to read during your break from filing TPS reports. Check back weekdays for all your Clippers content.

• The Clippers answered back in a big way in Game 2 against the Warriors.
• Avoiding foul trouble, Blake Griffin was the aggressor in Game 2.
• Grantland’s Zach Lowe says Griffin has been one of the winners of the NBA playoffs thus far.
• How do you balance Chris Paul being the best point guard in 20 years with the fact that he’s never really won anything?
• What has Doc Rivers done to prepare his team for a long playoff run when the team has never advanced past the second round?

• Podcast: Dan Woike of the Orange County Register joined CBS’s “Eye on Basketball” podcast to discuss Games 1 and 2 for the Clippers.

Game 1 Review: Foul Trouble for Griffin

That wasn’t how this series was supposed to start.

The Golden State Warriors jumped out to a 1-0 series lead and stole home-court advantage from the Los Angeles Clippers after a 109-105 victory Saturday.

With Andrew Bogut (broken rib) out for the series, the Warriors weren’t supposed to be able to stop the duo of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan in the post. But foul trouble for Griffin and seven turnovers by Jordan kept them from being very effective, combining for just 27 points and 17 rebounds. For the Warriors, David Lee and Jermaine O’Neal finished with 33 points and 16 boards, unexpectedly outplaying their counterparts.

Griffin, who played better than anybody not named LeBron James or Kevin Durant in 2013-14, played just 19 minutes. He played fewer than 20 minutes just one time in the regular season—a March 29 win over the Houston Rockets in which he left the game with back spasms. And only five other times did his minute total not crack 30.

Preview: No. 3 Clippers vs. No. 6 Warriors

After beating the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, the Golden State Warriors have clinched the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference and will take on the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs.

The matchup pits the two teams in the NBA that may like each other the least. Before the second game of the 2013-14 season, the Clippers refused to hold chapel with the Warriors—a common practice among Christians on opposing NBA teams. On Christmas, Blake Griffin was ejected after scrapping with Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green. And after their March 13 game, Jermaine O’Neal confronted Griffin outside of the locker rooms.

So yeah, this series is going to get physical.