Clippers: Ryan Gomes
LOS ANGELES -- Randy Foye said he didn't want to talk too much about what was discussed in Thursday's players-only meeting following the Clippers' loss to the Phoenix Suns.
But, speaking after Saturday's come-from-behind win over the Houston Rockets, he did reveal one telling topic of conversation from the extended meeting, adding context to something Vinny Del Negro touched on that night in his postgame news conference.
In short, Foye said, the Clippers "have to hold ourselves accountable for our actions on the court."
By that, he mainly means in terms of the officiating. Keep complaining to the officials, he said, and you have to accept the fact that they're possibly going to pay you back for it.
"If you just play, you'll get more calls," said Foye, one of the Clippers' leaders this year, along with Ryan Gomes, Chris Paul and Caron Butler. "If you don't complain, you'll get more calls."
Many would say Blake Griffin could benefit from hearing that. And perhaps he did -- the star forward noticeably complained only one time during Saturday's win over the Rockets, putting both hands on his head in the second half after being called for a defensive foul in what has become his signature move this season.
Foye said one of the reasons the Clippers were able to win Saturday's game was that they didn't let calls get to them as frequently as they have other times this season.
"Tonight, we could have complained about certain things, but we let that go," Foye said. "In the past, we've complained too much, but tonight we did a better job."
But, speaking after Saturday's come-from-behind win over the Houston Rockets, he did reveal one telling topic of conversation from the extended meeting, adding context to something Vinny Del Negro touched on that night in his postgame news conference.
In short, Foye said, the Clippers "have to hold ourselves accountable for our actions on the court."
By that, he mainly means in terms of the officiating. Keep complaining to the officials, he said, and you have to accept the fact that they're possibly going to pay you back for it.
"If you just play, you'll get more calls," said Foye, one of the Clippers' leaders this year, along with Ryan Gomes, Chris Paul and Caron Butler. "If you don't complain, you'll get more calls."
Many would say Blake Griffin could benefit from hearing that. And perhaps he did -- the star forward noticeably complained only one time during Saturday's win over the Rockets, putting both hands on his head in the second half after being called for a defensive foul in what has become his signature move this season.
Foye said one of the reasons the Clippers were able to win Saturday's game was that they didn't let calls get to them as frequently as they have other times this season.
"Tonight, we could have complained about certain things, but we let that go," Foye said. "In the past, we've complained too much, but tonight we did a better job."
Minnesota has what the Clippers don't
February, 29, 2012
Feb 29
12:55
AM PT
By Pedro Moura | ESPNLosAngeles.com
What are the Los Angeles Clippers missing?
It's pretty clear after Tuesday's game, when Clippers stars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul combined for 57 points -- 20 more than Minnesota's entire starting lineup -- and the team still lost by 12.
They're missing bench forwards who can score, guys like Derrick Williams and Michael Beasley, who were solely responsible for the Timberwolves' 109-97 win with their 54 points on 25 shots in Tuesday's game.
The Wolves have exactly what the Clippers need.
Minnesota coach Rick Adelman starts Wesley Johnson and Kevin Love in his forward slots but brings in Williams and Beasley off the bench for an average of 43 minutes a game.
Since Kenyon Martin debuted with the team earlier this month, Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro has started Griffin and Caron Butler in his forward slots and brought in Martin, Reggie Evans and Ryan Gomes off the bench for an average of 45 minutes a game.
Martin and Evans are capable defenders and useful rebounders but leave a lot to be desired on the offensive end -- Evans especially. New 10-day signee Bobby Simmons took over Gomes' minutes in Tuesday's game, but the point stands.
The Clippers don't have anyone taller than 6-1 on their bench capable of going for 20 points in a given game. And when Mo Williams, the 6-1 player, and Butler don't shoot well in a given game, that will spell trouble.
Not so for Minnesota. Love had just 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting and Ricky Rubio only two on 1-of-8, but Williams, Beasley and reserve swingman Martell Webster picked up the scoring punch for them.
"They have a lot of scorers," Del Negro said. And a couple of them got hot."
Del Negro has said all season that Williams is the Clippers' key guy off the bench. But that's the problem: good teams need more than one key reserve, more than one capable scorer.
But changes might be coming. The Clippers leave Wednesday for a six-game road trip that takes them to Minnesota and San Antonio, among other places.
By the time they get back early on the morning of March 10, the trade deadline will be only five days away.
Beasley might be available for trade. Other forwards who fit the need probably will, too.
It's pretty clear after Tuesday's game, when Clippers stars Blake Griffin and Chris Paul combined for 57 points -- 20 more than Minnesota's entire starting lineup -- and the team still lost by 12.
They're missing bench forwards who can score, guys like Derrick Williams and Michael Beasley, who were solely responsible for the Timberwolves' 109-97 win with their 54 points on 25 shots in Tuesday's game.
The Wolves have exactly what the Clippers need.
Minnesota coach Rick Adelman starts Wesley Johnson and Kevin Love in his forward slots but brings in Williams and Beasley off the bench for an average of 43 minutes a game.
Since Kenyon Martin debuted with the team earlier this month, Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro has started Griffin and Caron Butler in his forward slots and brought in Martin, Reggie Evans and Ryan Gomes off the bench for an average of 45 minutes a game.
Martin and Evans are capable defenders and useful rebounders but leave a lot to be desired on the offensive end -- Evans especially. New 10-day signee Bobby Simmons took over Gomes' minutes in Tuesday's game, but the point stands.
The Clippers don't have anyone taller than 6-1 on their bench capable of going for 20 points in a given game. And when Mo Williams, the 6-1 player, and Butler don't shoot well in a given game, that will spell trouble.
Not so for Minnesota. Love had just 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting and Ricky Rubio only two on 1-of-8, but Williams, Beasley and reserve swingman Martell Webster picked up the scoring punch for them.
"They have a lot of scorers," Del Negro said. And a couple of them got hot."
Del Negro has said all season that Williams is the Clippers' key guy off the bench. But that's the problem: good teams need more than one key reserve, more than one capable scorer.
But changes might be coming. The Clippers leave Wednesday for a six-game road trip that takes them to Minnesota and San Antonio, among other places.
By the time they get back early on the morning of March 10, the trade deadline will be only five days away.
Beasley might be available for trade. Other forwards who fit the need probably will, too.
Video: Del Negro on loss to San Antonio
February, 18, 2012
Feb 18
6:20
PM PT
By Pedro Moura | ESPNLosAngeles.com
LOS ANGELES -- Here's Los Angeles Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro talking to the media following his team's 103-100 overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday at Staples Center.
Del Negro discussed the final seconds of regulation in full detail but refused to take the blame for how the Ryan Gomes-to-Chris Paul inbounds pass ended up. The Clips' coach did like his team's overall effort.
Del Negro discussed the final seconds of regulation in full detail but refused to take the blame for how the Ryan Gomes-to-Chris Paul inbounds pass ended up. The Clips' coach did like his team's overall effort.
When the Chris Paul trade was first announced, there was a small contingency of critics who felt the Clippers had sacrificed too much in the deal. A lack of depth was given as the primary reason they would be unable to contend for a title in a brutally condensed 66-game season.
Doug Pensinger/Getty ImagesKenyon Martin figures to bring a new element to the Clippers' bench as a threat in pick-and-roll situations.Early on, despite the Clippers' current place atop the Pacific Division standings, there has been some legitimacy laid to those claims. The Clippers' second unit has been outperformed on a consistent basis, and coach Vinny Del Negro has struggled to find a way to rest his star players without losing leads. Without any real depth in the frontcourt, the Clippers looked more vulnerable than deeper contenders in the Western Conference such as Denver or Portland.
Despite facing some pressure to do so, Neil Olshey, Clippers vice president of basketball operations, never put the cart in front of the horse. Instead of panicking and trading a red-hot Mo Williams for multiple role players, or moving the last young asset on the team in Eric Bledsoe, the Clippers remained patient for a solution to shore up their depth.
The Clippers have found that solution in veteran forward Kenyon Martin, who agreed to terms on a contract Friday for the mini-mid-level exception of $2.5 million.
Even if Martin, an All-Star in 2004, isn’t the player he once was after multiple injuries, he still represents a huge upgrade to the frontcourt. The Clippers have given combo-forward Ryan Gomes 16.3 minutes a game and backup center Solomon Jones 9.7 minutes a game only to watch them combine for a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of less than 5.0. For comparison sake, the league average PER rating is 12.7 this season. Martin, meanwhile, has a career PER of 15.4. Just by simply absorbing the minutes given to Gomes and Jones, Martin represents an upgrade.
Like his former teammate Chauncey Billups, Martin has found a way to cheat Father Time a bit and delay his decline. Defensively he remains a solid weakside defender who is capable of getting up and challenging shots at the rim. For a team lacking any shotblocking threat outside of DeAndre Jordan, Martin’s presence in the paint will be well received.
Doug Pensinger/Getty ImagesKenyon Martin figures to bring a new element to the Clippers' bench as a threat in pick-and-roll situations.Despite facing some pressure to do so, Neil Olshey, Clippers vice president of basketball operations, never put the cart in front of the horse. Instead of panicking and trading a red-hot Mo Williams for multiple role players, or moving the last young asset on the team in Eric Bledsoe, the Clippers remained patient for a solution to shore up their depth.
The Clippers have found that solution in veteran forward Kenyon Martin, who agreed to terms on a contract Friday for the mini-mid-level exception of $2.5 million.
Even if Martin, an All-Star in 2004, isn’t the player he once was after multiple injuries, he still represents a huge upgrade to the frontcourt. The Clippers have given combo-forward Ryan Gomes 16.3 minutes a game and backup center Solomon Jones 9.7 minutes a game only to watch them combine for a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of less than 5.0. For comparison sake, the league average PER rating is 12.7 this season. Martin, meanwhile, has a career PER of 15.4. Just by simply absorbing the minutes given to Gomes and Jones, Martin represents an upgrade.
Like his former teammate Chauncey Billups, Martin has found a way to cheat Father Time a bit and delay his decline. Defensively he remains a solid weakside defender who is capable of getting up and challenging shots at the rim. For a team lacking any shotblocking threat outside of DeAndre Jordan, Martin’s presence in the paint will be well received.
What to watch: Clippers-Raptors
January, 21, 2012
Jan 21
9:24
PM PT
By Pedro Moura | ESPNLosAngeles.com
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Clippers finally let their fourth-quarter collapses get to them Friday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves, falling 101-98 despite taking a 12-point lead early in the final period.
Sunday, they get a fairly easy chance to rebound against the Toronto Raptors before taking two days off and facing the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday. Here are three things to pay attention to once the ball is tipped at Staples Center.
1. Rebounding and beating the teams you're supposed to beat
No, not that type of rebounding. The Clippers have actually gotten quite the hang of the glass since adding Reggie Evans. It's not nearly the issue it was two weeks ago.
What is an issue, though: Rebounding from a letdown loss. The 8-5 Clips shouldn't have lost to the Timberwolves on Friday, and they know it.
"It's a game we definitely should have won," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said Saturday, clearly still peeved.
It's a similar situation Sunday against the 4-12 Raptors, who haven't beaten a .500 or better team all season and have only won one game over the last 18 days.
The Clippers had their longest film session of the 2011-2012 season Saturday, and Del Negro held the players in practice over an hour after the scheduled end time, stressing some basics like down-the-stretch execution and free-throw shooting.
The message wasn't so much tied to the Raptors. It was mainly about the Clippers themselves and what they could to do to prevent the second two-game losing streak of the season.
Postgame thoughts: Minnesota loss
January, 21, 2012
Jan 21
8:06
AM PT
By Pedro Moura | ESPNLosAngeles.com
Here are some items of note from the Los Angeles Clippers' 101-98 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Staples Center.
The final play
For the second straight game, the Clippers' fates came down to a final play at the Staples Center -- and 3-pointers both, at that. But Friday's shot was by Kevin Love of Minnesota, whereas Chauncey Billups hit a big 3-pointer on Wednesday to beat Dallas.
What happened on Love's shot?
The short answer: DeAndre Jordan, assigned to cover him, didn't know what was going on. He was screened well by Wayne Ellington and Ricky Rubio, but he didn't diagnose what was actually happening on the play until the ball was already almost in Love's hands behind the 3-point line.
When Love caught it, Jordan was at the free-throw line. He wasn't even a factor in defending the shot.
The long answer: The play that was run is well-established as one of Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman's go-to's in late-game situations, dating back to his days in Sacramento. But Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro and defensive assistant Dean Demopoulos evidently didn't plan for it.
As Love later said, you could tell the Clippers had no idea what was coming simply by the way they lined up. Three of their defenders -- plus Blake Griffin, who was chasing Derrick Williams -- were lined up on the basket side, which left Love completely open when he broke the opposite way.
Just like that, the ball was in the basket and the game was over. Del Negro made a point of saying after the game that the shot wasn't the only reason the Clippers lost, and he was quite right.
But it's also true that the game would likely have gone to overtime if the Clips had played the last shot right.
The final play
For the second straight game, the Clippers' fates came down to a final play at the Staples Center -- and 3-pointers both, at that. But Friday's shot was by Kevin Love of Minnesota, whereas Chauncey Billups hit a big 3-pointer on Wednesday to beat Dallas.
What happened on Love's shot?
The short answer: DeAndre Jordan, assigned to cover him, didn't know what was going on. He was screened well by Wayne Ellington and Ricky Rubio, but he didn't diagnose what was actually happening on the play until the ball was already almost in Love's hands behind the 3-point line.
When Love caught it, Jordan was at the free-throw line. He wasn't even a factor in defending the shot.
The long answer: The play that was run is well-established as one of Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman's go-to's in late-game situations, dating back to his days in Sacramento. But Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro and defensive assistant Dean Demopoulos evidently didn't plan for it.
As Love later said, you could tell the Clippers had no idea what was coming simply by the way they lined up. Three of their defenders -- plus Blake Griffin, who was chasing Derrick Williams -- were lined up on the basket side, which left Love completely open when he broke the opposite way.
Just like that, the ball was in the basket and the game was over. Del Negro made a point of saying after the game that the shot wasn't the only reason the Clippers lost, and he was quite right.
But it's also true that the game would likely have gone to overtime if the Clips had played the last shot right.
Postgame thoughts: 1/14 win over Lakers
January, 15, 2012
Jan 15
1:57
AM PT
By Pedro Moura | ESPNLosAngeles.com
Here are a few items of note from Saturday's 102-94 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center:
Paul at his best
The last time Chris Paul scored more than 33 points in a game, the number he put up Saturday against the Lakers?
Jan. 27, 2010. The Los Angeles Clippers guard was at his best against his new rival, scoring the 33 on 12-for-22 shooting from the field and six assists. He had to exit the game with four minutes left because of a hamstring strain, but his performance was enough to lead the Clippers to the victory anyway.
"Chris Paul, a heck of a game," Lakers coach Mike Brown said afterward.
A heck of a game indeed. Paul turned the ball over just once and produced three steals. He was perfect from the free-throw line (6-for-6) and 3-for-4 from 3-point range.
Lakers guard Kobe Bryant incessantly praised him after the game.
"The game just gets easier with Chris Paul," Bryant said before comparing himself to Paul. "He's a dog. He's going to fight to win, and not too many teams can deal with him.
"Chris Paul is really the only other guy in the league, other than Derrick Rose, who also has that competitive edge."
The glass
One would think that a matchup between the NBA's best and worst rebounding teams would create clear-cut margin on the glass in the former's favor, but that wasn't the case.
And the Clippers didn't just hang tough with the Lakers -- they actually out-rebounded them, 50-42. It was only the second time this season the Clippers out-rebounded an opponent and the Lakers were out-rebounded.
Credit a lot of that to Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. The two Clipper bigs' were active in the paint throughout Saturday's contest and recorded a combined 24 rebounds -- the most they've totaled together in any game this season. And reserve forward Reggie Evans had a rebound every other minute he was on the floor for an efficient eight boards.
"There's not a lot of teams that should out-rebound us, with the way D.J. can get up and how good of a rebounder Reggie Evans is," Griffin said Saturday. "That's been a point for us: Rebound better."
The Clippers' 17 offensive rebounds produced 25 second-chance points. Compare that to the Lakers' 12 such points and the importance of the improvement is clear.
"Their rebounding was sensational," Bryant said. "They just did a great job on the glass."
Paul at his best
The last time Chris Paul scored more than 33 points in a game, the number he put up Saturday against the Lakers?
Jan. 27, 2010. The Los Angeles Clippers guard was at his best against his new rival, scoring the 33 on 12-for-22 shooting from the field and six assists. He had to exit the game with four minutes left because of a hamstring strain, but his performance was enough to lead the Clippers to the victory anyway.
"Chris Paul, a heck of a game," Lakers coach Mike Brown said afterward.
A heck of a game indeed. Paul turned the ball over just once and produced three steals. He was perfect from the free-throw line (6-for-6) and 3-for-4 from 3-point range.
Lakers guard Kobe Bryant incessantly praised him after the game.
"The game just gets easier with Chris Paul," Bryant said before comparing himself to Paul. "He's a dog. He's going to fight to win, and not too many teams can deal with him.
"Chris Paul is really the only other guy in the league, other than Derrick Rose, who also has that competitive edge."
The glass
One would think that a matchup between the NBA's best and worst rebounding teams would create clear-cut margin on the glass in the former's favor, but that wasn't the case.
And the Clippers didn't just hang tough with the Lakers -- they actually out-rebounded them, 50-42. It was only the second time this season the Clippers out-rebounded an opponent and the Lakers were out-rebounded.
Credit a lot of that to Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. The two Clipper bigs' were active in the paint throughout Saturday's contest and recorded a combined 24 rebounds -- the most they've totaled together in any game this season. And reserve forward Reggie Evans had a rebound every other minute he was on the floor for an efficient eight boards.
"There's not a lot of teams that should out-rebound us, with the way D.J. can get up and how good of a rebounder Reggie Evans is," Griffin said Saturday. "That's been a point for us: Rebound better."
The Clippers' 17 offensive rebounds produced 25 second-chance points. Compare that to the Lakers' 12 such points and the importance of the improvement is clear.
"Their rebounding was sensational," Bryant said. "They just did a great job on the glass."
BACK TO TOP
Page: 1
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Arash Markazi
Arash Markazi joined ESPNLosAngeles.com as a columnist and writer after five years with Sports Illustrated. Markazi has also written for Slam, King, Vibe and Playboy and is on the board of directors for the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/arashmarkazi.
Ramona Shelburne
Ramona Shelburne is a columnist and writer for ESPNLosAngeles.com. She spent seven years as a columnist and sportswriter at the Los Angeles Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ramonashelburne.
Pedro Moura
Pedro Moura has contributed to ESPNLosAngeles.com since December 2009. He has covered the Trojans since 2008 and also reports on high school sports. Moura is a native Angeleno and a graduate of USC. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/pedromoura.