Alright, we know that playing a fourth game in five nights was a chore, especially since it was the latter game of a back-to-back series. But, hey, adversity is always the best test of a ball club's mettle.
Judging by the Clippers' soft-shoe performance in Cleveland — a 94-77 loss Wednesday night — the team bears no resemblance to the squad that advanced to within one game of appearing in last year's conference final.
Will the real Clippers please stand up?
Here's how they looked Wednesday:
Sam Cassell certainly didn't look like he's lost much — 5-13, 8 A, 2 TO, 14 PTS. He was still pulling right and mostly left, and dropping nifty entry passes into Elton Brand. Cassell even went coast-to-coast once, and was even more impressive when he set a hearty pick on Anderson Varejao to draw a foul. Too bad Sam-He-Am's defense hasn't changed either — he still can't guard his own shadow. Whenever they could, the Cavs simply went at not-so-sudden-Sam. Especially Sasha Pavlovic, who had 16 points.
Cuttino Mobley did plenty of nothing — 3-10, 9 PTS. With Corey Maggette down with the (phantom?) flu, this was Mobley's chance to prove (to Donald Sterling) that Maggette was indeed dispensable. Hmmm. I wonder why the Clippers' brain-truss is so high on this guy.
Elton Brand set a passel of murderous screens, and (unless he was quickly double-teamed) looked to shoot just about every time he got his hands on the ball — 8-23, 0 A, 21 PTS.
Except for aggressively attacking an entry pass into Zydrunas Ilgauskas (and coming up with the steal) late in the fourth quarter, Brand was extremely passive on defense. He repeatedly yielded inside position to whomever he was supposed to be guarding, and sought to play a semblance of defense only after his man had already received the ball in the shadow of the basket. In other words, Brand was reacting instead of forcing the action. During the opening chapter of the game, big Ziggy actually beat Brand downcourt and ran himself into a couple of free throws.
What else didn't Brand do on defense? Box out. Show on screen/rolls. Rotate on time. Brand insists that he's still weary from playing for Team USA last summer — even though he had at least a month to rest after the international tournament was over. But how is it that an almost 28-year-old athlete in terrific physical shape is so tired? What's he eating? How much sleep is he getting? Who looks back at him when he looks into the mirror? Who is the imposter — this Elton Brand, or last year's version?
Quinton Ross played earnest defense and made a wonderful steal (which failed to register on his stat line) in a refreshing way: Instead of gambling or running up on the ball from behind, Ross simply snatched Pavlovic's dribble between the time the ball left Sasha's hand and it hit the floorboards. But Ross also turned his head at least twice, and was totally uninvolved in the offense — except for a pair of personal fouls, he had zeroes across the board. It seems as though Ross might be better used as a spot defender in certain situations.
Chris Kaman embarrassed himself — 1-6, 4 REBS, 0 A, 6 PTS. He botched a wide-open 10-footer, and later shot an airball in the exact same circumstances. The Cavs also made a point of aiming a large portion of their offense straight at Chris Kaman. Ziggy not only ate Chris Kaman's lunch in the pivot, but played volleyball on the offensive glass. Chris Kaman seemed rooted to the floor while Ziggy tip-toed his way to nine — count ‘em — offensive rebounds.
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