NBA

Los Angeles Clippers Stat Monkey Brief: Clippers/Blazers (1/26/13)

Yulian Fedulov Jan 26th, 2013
Especially without CP3, you can't give up 12 free points and expect to win. But that's what Lob City did against Phoenix the other night.

Lob City Highlight of the Night

I think the announcer yells out, “It’s a left-handed sledgehammer!” but I can’t be too sure. Either way, it is worth another look.

Quick Recap

If you look at the box score, the game was pretty even. Neither the Clippers nor the Suns dominated any one category. The Clippers did, however, grab six more offensive rebounds, take 12 more shots, and even make three more baskets. They just couldn’t buy a shot all night and only shot 39.8 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from long range.

The Suns didn’t really shoot all that much better, at 42.3 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from long range. If you look at effective field goal percentage, Suns shot 45.8 percent while the Clippers shot 43.4 percent. What really did the Clippers in was free throw shooting. The Suns took 37 free throws and made 28 of them while the Clippers took 26 and made just 16. 12 free points are hard to overcome without your star player out there and when you are having an off night.

Next Two Games

Tonight, the Clippers kick off their fourth back-to-back set of game in the month of January. I wonder if whoever makes the schedule actually looks at this stuff, because that is brutal. Both games will be played against the 21-21 Portland Blazers. Portland is outside looking in at the playoffs by half a game. According to basketball-reference.com, however, the Blazers should 18-24 and numberFire ranks them 21st in our power rankings.

Moral of the story is that the Clippers should win both games, but then again the Clippers should have two out of their last three games, if not all three. The one thing the Clippers need to do to increase their chances of winning is not foul a lot. Portland is the 10th best team from the charity line, and a significant disadvantage from the line could too much to overcome just like against the Suns.

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