Raptors @ Clippers Preview

Posted on November 13, 2009 | 5 Comments

I’m not quite sure when the Clippers became the NBA joke that they are. I’ve been following the NBA since the mid-80′s and I’ve always known them as that. I mean, this is the same franchise that had Bob McAdoo and was coached by the legendary Jack Ramsey while going to the second round three years in a round. Of course, that was back in the mid-70′s when they were still in Buffalo*. Maybe moving to San Diego cursed them. Hey, it seems to have cursed Memphis. Maybe it was signing Bill Walton away from the Blazers. That’s really when this Clippers `curse’ started, wasn’t it? Walton signed and then missed all but 14 games due to injury. I mean, that was the first of Clipper top players to have career threatening, or in some cases ending, injuries.

Danny Manning Trying To Forget He's A ClipperWalton, Norm Nixon, Marques Johnson, Derek Smith, Danny Manning, Ron Harper, Shaun Livingston, Elton Brand and now Blake Griffin are just the main ones. Of course, Tiny Archibald missed an entire season with an achilles injury after being traded to the Braves, the season before they moved to San Diego. There have actually been fewer top Clipper players that DID NOT suffer some sort of career altering injury than didn’t. You can’t blame Danny Ferry for holding out all those years ago, can you? Sure, he pretty much sucked after making it to the NBA, but at least he never suffered a major injury, did he?

There’s the possibility that the curse started when Donald Sterling took over. I mean, it’s not as if Walton was ever healthy to begin with. Sterling certainly shouldn’t have a lot of good karma working for him, considering his history. If the NBA can prevent lowlifes like Bill Laurie, can’t they make Sterling sell in order to save the team (and the careers of countless future Clipper players?

Of course, none of that means anything to the Raptors, except that they don’t have to face Blake Griffin, because, of course, he’s injured because he was drafted by the Clippers. More good news for the Raptors is the fact that the Clippers are not a good rebounding or scoring team. As I’ve previously stated, the Raptors tend to play well against teams that struggle to score and rebound the ball. Even better for the Raptors is that the Clippers second leading scorer, Eric Gordon, is injured and won’t play. It’s as if the stars have aligned for another Raptors win, right?

Well, pretty much. The third thing in the Raptors favour is that the Clippers are not a strong three point shooting team, and their top three point shooter is Gordon, who, of course, won’t be playing.

BEST BATTLE

I’m not sure if Kaman or Camby will guard Bosh, but either way, it will be tough to stop Bosh. He’s playing like a monster and despite going up against the twin towers of the Clippers, I don’t see that changing.

BIGGEST MISMATCH

If Turkoglu plays (he turned his ankle against Chicago late in the fourth), then he’ll go against the Clippers weakest position. Al Thornton looked like he was a future star last season, but so far has been a disappointment. Turkoglu should have his way with him early.

WORST MISMATCH

Chris Kaman is having an All-Star year. At the pace he’s going, he might actually finish the season as a 20-10 guy. Hard to believe, isn’t it? Right now he’s averaging 21.7 and 9.6. Sure, he’s still not great defensively, but on the offensive end, he’s tough to handle. Bargnani will probably have the task of guarding Kaman, and while the Clippers don’t have anyone that can guard Bargnani on the perimeter, he’s shown recently he’s just fine at guarding himself. Bargnani will have a long night if he doesn’t do a good job on Kaman and stay out of foul trouble.

PREDICTION

As long as Baron Davis doesn’t get into his wayback machine and go back to his time in Golden State, the Clippers simply don’t have the firepower, or the defense, to beat the Raptors potent offense.

Raptors by 8.

UPDATE:

Kaman is apparently suffering from a `virus’, but will play. The question, is, how much energy is he going to have, especially at the end of a fast paced game like this one is likely to be?

Also, I’ve decided to add a new category:

BURNING QUESTION

Will DeRozan continue his great play and play well in front of his hometown, or will he push too hard and struggle? Players in DeRozan’s position usually end up struggling trying to do too much, but that is rarely the case with DeRozan. If he concentrates on doing what he did against the Bulls, the nervous energy he’ll have will work for him.

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Category: Clippers, NBA, Raptors

Comments

5 Responses to “Raptors @ Clippers Preview”

  1. Ragu
    November 13th, 2009 @ 8:46 AM

    This is one of the games that scare me. It’s one of those “we should win” games, and we haven’t really done that this season.

    Danny Ferry. Poster boy for the NBA. Great career. Inspired great players like Steve Francis. Now inspiring others in his great run, building awesome teams as GM ~ sarcasm.

  2. Tim W.
    November 13th, 2009 @ 11:19 AM

    If you look closely, the Raptors have actually won all the games they “should” have. They didn’t win against Memphis, who aren’t a good team, but even I said it wasn’t the slam dunk it seemed because the Grizzlies had the ability to score and run with the Raptors, and rebound well. Plus, they’ve got some three point shooters.

    The Clippers aren’t a very good defensive team, they don’t have the firepower to score with the Raptors, outside of Kaman and Camby, they don’t have good rebounders, AND without Gordon, they’re as bad as the Bulls from the outside.

    In other words, this is the exact type of team the Raptors should beat and they’ve had success against these types of teams this year.

  3. Jdbar
    November 13th, 2009 @ 11:35 AM

    Simmons had a thing on the start of the Clippers’ curse awhile back…can’t be bothered to search for his archive for the link. For him it had something to do with the Native American connection to the old Buffalo Braves.

  4. Tim W.
    November 13th, 2009 @ 11:40 AM

    I remember that article. Funny, as usual, but it really makes you wonder about that team.

  5. Vic De Zen
    November 13th, 2009 @ 1:19 PM

    I’m expecting a good game from DeRozan. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to try to do too much. But, you never know. It’s his first time back. We’ll see.

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