I don't think they can play Mbah at all. With CP3 you could play 4 on 5 offensively. Now they need to do everything they can to score. I bet Wesley Johnson plays a lot more, he's a decent defender. He made over 100 three's this season. Jeff Green is a wild card. He carried Boston to wins when Brad Stevens first started coaching. He's the type of guy who can get hot for a game and has been a primary offensive option. Aldrich has some post moves which we really struggle to defend inside. Austin Rivers has had huge games too. He started in place of CP3 in the second round last year against Houston and had 17 points then 10. The next game he had 25 off the bench. Four straight double figure playoff games. I wouldn't be shocked to see them do some unconventional lineups. Play DeAndre along with Aldrich. Send even more traps at the Blazers. Dare Plumlee to shoot those 5 foot shots. Over a 7 game series we destroy this opponent. But with a best of three and two on the road this thing is far from a lock. After Griffin and CP3 are ruled out the sportsbooks only have us as a 2 point favorite.
Yeah nobody is talking about him, but Pierce immediately comes to mind as the big X factor for the Clipps.
Can't be understated.... ? http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/117295/chris-pauls-value-cant-be-understated
When I was a writer, nobody proofread my stuff, but I was on a rinky dink site. This is ESPN.... they seriously don't have anyone looking at this stuff before it goes live?
True story. I've never, ever heard anyone understate Chris Paul's value. Often overstated, never understated.
I just don't see any reasonable chance of it. The guy is almost 40 and hasn't created offense all year. His points have came from wide open shots when defenses ignore him. Thats when they had 4 stud starters drawing attention. Now they have one. If we had Meyers Leonard guarding Pierce as earlier this season I might be concerned. But how is he going to get efficient shots with any of Harkless, Aminu, Hendo, Crabbe guarding him? I welcome Pierce trying to take it upon himself to be an xfactor. Now I wouldn't leave him wide open from three; the guy can shoot. If we need to double it should come from somewhere else. But you don't have to worry about him doing anything else on the court.
Not that they need any more motivation in the playoffs, but I think the Stotts snub will probably add even more wood to the fire.
I think it'll help more in the second round if we beat the Clips. Even with out Steph they have two all stars and the COY. We have none. They should beat us. They'll be talking about how they matchup with SAS/OKC the whole series.
All their staff is busy looking at employee's facebook and twitter posts to see if any of their free speech violates ESPN political preferences.
Yeah, it's HIGHLY unlikely that we'll win two games in a row on the back of Aminu's shooting. I hope we run the same play, but have Aminu attack and pass, rather than shoot the open J. I think he's done it a grand total of 3 times this series, but it creates a much higher-percentage shot and puts a lot more strain on LAC's defense. If he's jacking open 3s all game that leaves the door wide-open for LAC.
Nah, that's just one or two guys, the rest of the staff is making sure that none of their employees are criticizing Roger Goodell and/or the NFL. Protect that shield!
Color me confused. They keep calling it a Quad injury, but Griffin is grabbing the skin that attaches his quad to his kneecap. Aren't those ligaments, not muscles?
It sounds like it is a tear somewhere around the Quad insertion point on the knee end. The tendon there is short so the injury is likely at the tendon/muscle junction just above the knee--or very close to it.
Also, remember that the Quadriceps is a group of four muscles, with four different attachments. It could be any one of the four, but given where he has been rubbing it I'm guessing it may be one of the lateral muscle groups:
The biggest shift that occurs here IMO.... Now their starting back court is the tandem that is pressured to play D, and frees up Dame and CJ to focus more on making the offense flow. Paul is a scrappy defender but also forces us to defend the PG intensively... Rivers, not so much. The next step of this is that now our Combo of Aminu and Harkless match up very well against Mbah a Moute and Green.
On the TNT broadcast they zoomed in on Griffin massaging the area just above his knee cap with his thumb.
