I was as surprised as hell when the Clippers went on and won a heap of games (17 in fact) before getting their butts handed too them in the new year. Firstly, I don’t think they are really that good – I mean outside of Chris Paul who is a super talent but needs to quite his damn whinging and whining like a punk, they just don’t have elite level talent. Sure you have Blake Griffin, but outside of dunk, what can he really do and I mean REALLY do on a consistent basis? Cry like a girl – that’s what he can do and it seems to have rubbed of on CP3. Tonight they got whooped by a super Golden State Warriors team and the game before that they were done in by a sensational team effort as the Denver Nuggets stopped the streak even without the Little Typhoon – Ty Lawson.
Sure the Clippers have made strides – it isn’t hard to when your team has sucked for so long. They recruited well and Jamal Crawford has to be the front runner for the 6th man of the year award, and even DeAndre Jordan has gotten better – meaning he can do something other than block and rebound. CP3 is awesome as always but his antics are starting to get on my god damn nerves. Bledsoe has been average when everyone was trying to tell me he was the difference and would make LAC a championship contender. Matt Barnes and Lamar Odom have been OK by their standards (as Laker rejects) which means they still get to keep cutting a paycheck. But really – are the Clippers that good? Hell no and here’s why.
The 17 game win streak. Let’s break it down and have a look at who they beat and how and where, because that is just as important as the win streak itself.
- Win #1 – 6pt win against Minnesota at home (meh)
- Win #2 – 35pt win against Sacramento at home (my platoon could beat the Kings)
- Win #3 – 1pt win against Utah at Utah (not world beating stuff there)
- Win #4 – 22pt win against Dallas at home (before Nowitzki even started lining up)
- Win #5 – 18pt win over Phoenix where else but at home (impressive? no….)
- Win #6 – 19pt win over Toronto at Staples (when the Raps hadn’t thought about winning)
- Win #7 – 5pt win over Chicago at Chi-town (impressive until you realise the Bulls don’t have Rose and didn’t have Hamilton)
- Win #8 – 6pt win over the Bobcats at Charlotte (really? just the 6pts? Must be championship contenders those Bobcats)
- Win #9 – 26pt win over Milwaukee at Milwaukee (nice winning margin but again a middle of the road team)
- Win #10 – 12pt win over Detroit at the Palace (beating up on the younger teams)
- Win #11 – 16pt win over New Orleans at home (before Eric Gordon came back!)
- Win #12 – 12pt win AT HOME AGAIN over the Kings (just mean really, padding the win streak against sub par opposition)
- Win #13 – 26pt win against Phoenix at Phoenix (nice win but once again the Suns are not a playoff team)
- Win #14 – 12pt win over Denver at home (surprise, surprise – but this is the best win of this whole damn streak)
- Win #15 – 29pt win over Boston at Staples (nice win but the Celts have a losing record this season so not THAT good)
- Win #16 – 2pt win over Utah at Utah (nice win, they really came back and eeked it out, but Utah lost it more than the Clippers won it)
- Win #17 – 11pt win over Utah again – this time back in the comfort of Staples.
So they had 10 of their 17 at home and won them all – that’s good, so you should.
They beat 13 teams in all (only Chicago, Milwaukee and Denver were over .500, although TWolves are around the mark)
So now do you think this streak was so freakin awesome? No? Me either. I had to get this off my chest because I am sick to death of seeing people clogging up my twitter and facebook with all this Clippers are the real deal championship material deal. Had these bandwagoning hacks not started running their mouths I wouldn’t have to lay the truth on you all. Practically most of you so-called Clippers fans didn’t even know the Clippers existed before Chris Paul and Blake Griffin so please, just hush.
I commend the Clippers on beating the teams that they were meant to, winning their home games and inspiring a legion of easy to please fans. Now on the back of back to back losses to quality teams, where is all the championship talk? Nowhere. Let’s face it, the Clippers may be the bully beating up on the small kid in the playground – but let’s see them grind out a 7 game series against the big boys like OKC, San Antonio etc.
At least you won a Coach of the Month Vinny D!
