Second Round: OKC Thunder (2) vs LA Clippers (3)

[TOO]

29-7 OKC early.. Wow.

[Superbone]

Yep, devastating first quarter for the Clippers in a must win game. Do they have what it takes to come back?

[TOO]

Am I weird for thinking I'd rather have DeAndre Jordan than Blake Griffin?

[Superbone]

Am I weird for thinking I'd rather have DeAndre Jordan than Blake Griffin?

A little. It's hard to root for Griffin though since he's such a flopper punk. He's one of those guys you only like if he's on your team. Jordan is more of a role player but no doubt a very good one.

[Superbone]

I'm only at halftime but good job by the Clippers to get back within 10. I'm enjoying the chippy battle.

[TOO]

Am I weird for thinking I'd rather have DeAndre Jordan than Blake Griffin?

A little. It's hard to root for Griffin though since he's such a flopper punk. He's one of those guys you only like if he's on your team. Jordan is more of a role player but no doubt a very good one.

He's the Harden of PFs. I just want to punch him. It really blows my mind that kid that strong and athletic doesnt block shots or put up 12 rebs a game. Feels lazy to me.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Am I weird for thinking I'd rather have DeAndre Jordan than Blake Griffin?

A little. It's hard to root for Griffin though since he's such a flopper punk. He's one of those guys you only like if he's on your team. Jordan is more of a role player but no doubt a very good one.

He's the Harden of PFs. I just want to punch him. It really blows my mind that kid that strong and athletic doesnt block shots or put up 12 rebs a game. Feels lazy to me.

Yeah, he kinds of remind me Amare both on the "like him mostly because he is on my team" and "with those physical gift, he should be a beast on the boards night in and night out, including blocks"

[TOO]

Darren Collison ladies and gentleman.

[Superbone]

Wow! What a comeback!

I'm also happy for Alvin Gentry. The guy is a class act and I'm glad to see him have success in the playoffs.

[Superbone]

I thought it was over when Griffin got that phantom fifth foul early in the fourth.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Me too. This win was 100% on Rivers. He managed to keep them afloat and slowly get back inch by inch, there was no taking over, maybe at some degree by Collison, but it was mostly on Rivers coaching.

[Mori Chu]

Wowwwwwwww, this game was nuts. I'm really glad the Clips won it; the series would have been essentially over if they hadn't. And it would have been pretty sad not to be able to win this one on their own home court in basically a msut-win game.

I agree that DeAndre Jordan is having an amazing year, but I think Blake his also shown a ton of improvement this past season. He isn't a great rebounder or defender, he doesn't block a lot of shots, and his FTs still aren't great. But he has improved to "decent" status in most of these areas, particularly his FTs which are up to 71.5% (74.7% playoffs), up from 64% career.

And his offensive game shows just a ton more versatility and diversity than it used to. He used to just try to jump over everybody, but now he's a snake, twisting his way around the defender and getting an angle on a high-percentage shot. I really like his offense and he's almost always able to put himself in the best position to score. And he's sneaky good at second shot opportunities, tipping in his own misses or those of other players, etc. And he always good in the pick-and-roll. He's just a much better player than he used to be.

He and Chris Paul and Jamal Crawford are still flopping whiners, so I don't love 'em, but I find them much less distasteful than when "Lob City" first started. Even my girlfriend noticed how often the Clippers and Thunder both kick out their legs on jumpers and then fall over. It's an epidemic. Every time the ref falls for that garbage I roll my eyes. Why haven't they figured out that gimmick by now?

[Superbone]

And he's sneaky good at second shot opportunities, tipping in his own misses or those of other players, etc.

He's got a little Marion in him in that way with the quick second jump.

[Superbone]

Just finished watching game 5. I was all ready to come on here and talk about how amazing it was that the Clippers took back control and how good those here were looking that predicted the Clippers representing the West in the Finals. That was until the colossal failure of the Clippers to finish the game. Pathetic. Crawford kept jacking up threes in the last three minutes. What a waste of a series-control-taking game by the Clippers. Sad.

[carey]

Just finished watching game 5. I was all ready to come on here and talk about how amazing it was that the Clippers took back control and how good those here were looking that predicted the Clippers representing the West in the Finals. That was until the colossal failure of the Clippers to finish the game. Pathetic. Crawford kept jacking up threes in the last three minutes. What a waste of a series-control-taking game by the Clippers. Sad.

Nice of the refs to get themselves involved too. CP3 had a colossal frak up in the closing minute too... no reason to leave your feel there. Kudos to Russ for knocking down all 3 FTs (but man what an ill advised 3-pointer).

[INFORMER]

It's funny that there's all this fuss about the ball being out on Jackson, when NBA rules state the following:

According to NBA official rule No. 8, Section 11, "If a player has his hand in contact with the ball and an opponent hits the hand causing the ball to go out-of-bounds, the team whose player had his hand on the ball retains possession."

[In2ition]

It's funny that there's all this fuss about the ball being out on Jackson, when NBA rules state the following:

According to NBA official rule No. 8, Section 11, "If a player has his hand in contact with the ball and an opponent hits the hand causing the ball to go out-of-bounds, the team whose player had his hand on the ball retains possession."

That is very interesting. I did not know that rule, but it actually makes sense(or I should say it's a fair rule).

[Mori Chu]

A colossal choke job by the Clippers. I wasn't able to watch most of it because I was giving an exam, but I saw most of the 4th and the end. Maybe the Clips just haven't had enough heartbreak and failure yet. You need a few years of that to grow as a team to understand how hard it is to win it all. Clips took their foot off the gas and let the game slip away.

BTW, I am sick of all these fouls on 3-point shots. The players are kicking their legs out and falling down after EVERY long jumper. The refs need to get wise to this and stop calling those fouls!

[Mori Chu]

An interesting recap of the end-of-game choke by the Clips:

[Ring_Wanted]

It's funny that there's all this fuss about the ball being out on Jackson, when NBA rules state the following:

According to NBA official rule No. 8, Section 11, "If a player has his hand in contact with the ball and an opponent hits the hand causing the ball to go out-of-bounds, the team whose player had his hand on the ball retains possession."

That's only half of the story and not even the issue.

The fuss was about wether or not Jackson touched the ball after he was hit by Barnes. The refs said it was not clear, as in there is no conclusive evidence to overrrule the call. The contact was legal, that's not disputable as Barnes slapped a hand that was directly over the ball.

But what happened with the ball thereafter is not easy to call even watching the play from two different angles. In my opinion this is one of those situations where the truth is only known by the player involved.