“Hmm. Hey, Woody… look at the Sugar, falling out of the sky…”
“HAWKS HELP LA END 9-GAME LOSING SKID.” No, that headline isn’t from last night. It’s from back during November’s holiday season. Doc Rivers and his LA Clippers are, much like their NBA tenant mates, eager to give thanks again tonight to the visiting Atlanta Hawks (10:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports Prime Ticket in LA) at Staples Center.
Doc’s Clippers, then at 5-11, entered that November 22 game shortly after learning they had lost CP3 replacement Patrick Beverley for the season. Rivers has since managed to almost completely right the ship, winning 12 of their next 20 games despite a spate of injuries wiping out nearly the entire starting lineup.
But after losing their past two games, with Blake Griffin (concussion) likely out again just a few games after coming back from a weeks-long absence, and with another game at Golden State in a couple days, the Clips need Atlanta (10-29) to do them another solid. One Clipper, in particular.
“Tell Me Whyyyyyy…” The NBA’s leading rebounder, DeAndre Jordan (15.1 RPG) has all the countenance these days of the Maytag Repairman. Just 30 months prior, as an unrestricted free agent, he had his spit-in-handshake agreement with Mark Cuban and Chandler Parsons (!!!) to split from Cali and come home to Texas, making himself the center-piece of Dallas’ resurgence. Soon after word leaked out of Jordan’s verbal agreement, and his having second-thoughts, Chris Paul and Griffin led the charge to Houston, by planes, trains and Maybachs, to save DeAndre from himself.
Nearly the entire team, Rivers and owner-fan Steve Ballmer included, barricaded themselves inside Jordan’s hometown H-Town estate. To keep Jordan from venturing off into the Lone Star State for the prime of his NBA career, Paul vowed he would commit to repairing his weathered relationship with DeAndre, both on and off the court, in between jovial spades and video games.
Circling outside like a shark stuck in a tank, Cuban could only watch from afar, the self-made billionaire getting the “New Phone Who Dis?” treatment. By the time even Jordan’s own agents could get a physical hold of him, the ink was already drying on a new, four-year contract to remain in LA with Chris Paul and Friends.
It’s thirty months later. Guess who’s playing NBA ball in Jordan’s hometown? “Ain’t Nothin’ But a Heartache…”
After engineering a trade last summer, Paul not only moved on from Jordan on the court, but on TV, too. Now, when people think of State Farm, they think of CP3, James Harden, off-key Trevor Ariza and, maybe, an in-state championship-winning UGA quarterback named Jake.
Together, Paul and Harden have boosted the Rockets to the second-best record in the West, and it’s Houston, no longer the Clippers, with the best odds of toppling Golden State. Jordan the Hooper, meanwhile, no longer needs to don a blonde wig, pearls and a little black dress, to convey that, when it comes to his team’s title aspirations, “We’ve Been Robbed!”
“DJ,” Cuban advised during his summer 2015 soft-sell, “if you want to be a brand, you have to separate yourself.” Jordan, who finally reached the All-Star Game last year, took the risk of standing pat in hopes of becoming the Clippers’ bona fide third star, in a town known for making many of them.
Instead, with Paul in Houston (the point guard visits LA for a game next week), the Rockets’ Clint Capela earning newfound All-Star love while on the receiving end in the New Lob City, goofball Griffin losing favor among casual NBA fans, and the LA locals growing more intrigued by the day in The Lake Show, DeAndre has been left with little choice but to stand out on his own. Some nights, he seems dominant (4th in O-Reb%; 1st in D-Reb%; 2nd in O-Rating). On many others, without Paul around, he looks as forlorn on the court as the Wolverine Crush meme (65.6 FG%, lowest in five seasons; 1.0 BPG, lowest in career as an everyday starter).
Jordan does have one ace up his sleeve, however, and that’s the player option he has on his deal with the Clippers, for this coming summer’s red-hot free agency period. Nothing would help this particular “Jordan Brand” more than a trade to a contender that makes a legitimate run toward the NBA title, so the Clips are carefully parsing through offers to swing a cap-relieving haul that’s worth their while. DeAndre (career-best 60.6 FT%), for his part, must remain healthy, and he must continue putting up big numbers for a Clippers team that looks more like a M*A*S*H unit (plus Lou Williams) on most nights.
Despite Jordan going a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the field along the way to 14 points, 16 boards, and a pair of blocks in LA’s 116-103 win in Atlanta back in November, he didn’t have to be a one-man wrecking crew. Help came in the form of Griffin (26 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists @ ATL on Nov. 22) and Austin Rivers (18 points, 5 assists @ ATL), neither of whom will be available for tonight’s action, the latter dealing with an Achilles strain.
Danilo Gallinari (glutes) hasn’t been able to stay on the floor, either. Two-way project Jamil Wilson helped to fill the gap from the losses of Griffin and Gallo with nearly a dozen starts, but he was waived this weekend as his 45-day window has nearly closed. Beverley’s backup, Milos Teodosic (plantar fascia), also has to sit this one out, while longtime gunners JJ Redick and Jamal Crawford are now in happier NBA locales.
Atlanta can expect a heavy dose of Sweet Lou (40.6 3FG%; 20 points, 3-for-6 3FGs, 8 assists, 6 TOs @ ATL), along with Wesley Johnson. The latter has been scattershot all season from deep (30.3 FG%), but more than a fifth of his makes this season came on a single night at Philips Arena (season-high 24 points, 6-for-7 3FGs), courtesy of the Hawks.
To help generate enough offense to stay in games, Doc Hollywood is leaning on rookies, including second-round guard Jawun Evans, who unfortunately started opposite Steph Curry (45 points, 8-for-16 3FGs vs. LAC) on Saturday, but did produce seven assists to just a single turnover. Rivers also learned he’d better call Tyrone Wallace up from Agua Caliente. The new two-way replacement for Wilson, Wallace entered in garbage time and collaborated with fellow rooks Evans and Sindarius Thornwell plus the future Mr. Olivia Harlan, Sam Dekker, to close the Durant-less Warriors’ blowout gap from 27 to 16.
Hawks are not part of the ostrich family, but that was hard to discern last night on this floor, as Our Fine Feathered Friends buried their heads in the sand as soon as the Lakers made up their mind to make a run. Magic Johnson surely enjoyed his popcorn as his team, known for its “Showtime!” exploits from a bygone era, whiplashed the Hawks to the tune of a franchise-record 42 fastbreak points.
That was about all the advantage the Lakers needed versus a Hawks team that lacked a discernible game plan, regarding either its halfcourt offense or coach Mike Budenholzer’s cherished transition defense. Perhaps things were thrown off-kilter a smidgen once Taurean Prince exited with a sprained ring finger. But the Hawks need better organization and communication from its floor generals.
Absent backcourt defensive pressure from the Clippers, Dennis Schröder (27 points, 10-for-19 2FGs, 5 assists @ LAL) will find more room to navigate and stat-pad on offense, even more so whenever Jordan sits. Yet it’s essential that he (career-low 8.1 D-Reb%), and Kent Bazemore (1 D-Reb in past 69 minutes of play), know who to D-up as soon as the ball leaves their teammates’ often-wayward fingers, particularly if they’re not going to be of much help in the rebounding department.
The same goes for Atlanta’s backcourt reserves (principally, Malcolm Delaney, Isaiah Taylor, and Marco Belinelli), who displayed woeful defensive positioning in transition as the Atlanta starters’ early lead on Sunday vanished into the LA smog. Rookies John Collins (first of many made NBA 3FGs, vs. LAL) and Tyler Cavanaugh have enough on their plate to get back on defense only to be met by a track meet of opponents running at and around them. DeAndre’ Bembry’s defensive attributes should be missed, but not this much.
Starters and bench players alike will all have a little more assistance tonight, with the probable return of season-opening starter Dewayne Dedmon (tibia) to the lineup. Dedmon’s absence short-circuited Hawk fans’ long-held desires to see him in a starting frontcourt tandem with Collins, a stint which began against the Clips in November and lasted all of three more days before the sidelining injury.
One would anticipate Coach Bud and the staff bringing Dedmon along slowly, ensuring he’s back up to speed before returning to that pairing with Collins. But Dewayne’s ability to cut down on opponent scoring in the paint, while also surprising with an occasional perimeter shot (8-for-12 3FGs in his last 7 games), is needed, literally, yesterday. Having Ded, Miles Plumlee and Mike Muscala (probable, ankle) healthy together for the first time all season can add new dimensions to Atlanta’s front line.
As for Jordan, and his crumbling Clippers, what of their postseason prospects, if their regression continues against the Hawks tonight? Might one suggest, “They’re going DOWN!”?
Go Dawgs! Rise Up! And Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
