We finally have our first legitimate revenge match from last year’s playoffs, and it features two teams that dislike each other regardless of the occasion. The Warriors look to get revenge against the Clippers, who defeated them in a heated, intense playoff series amidst the Donald Sterling scandal and rumors of Mark Jackson’s inevitable ouster. The loss to the Clippers (among other things) was used by Warriors management as a convenient excuse to fire the well beloved (by the players) evangelical coach. ESPN is broadcasting the game tomorrow and if Jackson is in attendance it will add another layer of intrigue to an already intriguing matchup, since the loss to the Clippers led to his departure. Since we last saw these two teams, a lot has changed. The Warriors have a new coach in Kerr, who makes in-game adjustments (what a novelty) and can match wits with some of the better coaches. Bogut is healthy. The bench has been fortified. Thompson, after playing for team USA all summer, has become an all-star type player (in a local radio interview he talked about what a confidence booster it was for him to play such a key role with a team full of stars). And, most importantly, the Warriors have moved away from an iso and pick and pop offense towards a motion offense that utilizes and maximizes the talent and intelligence of their gifted players. But the Warriors don’t just hang their hat on offense, they are also playing superb defense. This is not only a revenge game for the dubs but also a statement game, against a division champ that they hope to supplant this year.
As for the Clippers, well, they’ve actually taken a couple of steps backward. Their defense (and bench) is not as good as it was last year and some of that has to do with personnel. With Doc Rivers acting as both GM and coach, the Clippers made some poor decisions this off-season; decisions which may haunt them all year. Doc is a great coach, but a GM? As a lifelong Celtics fan/follower, I’m very familiar with Doc. He preaches Ubuntu and togetherness but loves to tinker with his team’s personnel (especially the role players), as he did in Boston. This is the same guy who green-lighted the Perkins trade mid-season and sunk Boston’s title hopes. This summer he did a mini-overhaul of the Clippers’ bench by replacing Collison (who is one of the reason’s for the Sacramento King’s renaissance this year) with Farmar. According to Collison, he never wanted to leave LA and was willing to give the Clippers a hometown discount as Paul’s backup. But the Clippers (or Doc) didn’t even try to retain him:
“Collison simply shakes his head when he is relayed Rivers’ explanation for not trying harder to re-sign him in the offseason. He said he didn’t care about starting or coming off the bench and thought his value to the Clippers was worth more of an effort on their part. Giving them a hometown discount was always an option in his mind.”
“I don’t know why he’d think that,” Collison said. “Maybe because of how this business works, maybe he thought with me being competitive that I just wanted to start for another team. That just wasn’t the case. My biggest thing was winning first. If I had to go back to play with the Clippers, I would’ve done the same thing. Whether it was miscommunication or whatever the deal might’ve been, it worked out for everybody.”
Regardless, this move has had a huge negative impact on the Clippers (especially Paul):
“While the Clippers like Farmar and think he will be a good backup for Paul, he isn’t able to do what Collison can do. The Clippers would often play Collison alongside Paul last season and used him as a defensive, on-the-ball defender. That’s something they can’t do with Farmar, which makes life more difficult for Paul.”
“He was very versatile for us,” Rivers said. “He played the 1 and the 2, he can guard the ball at times and it could give CP at times some rest. So far we haven’t been able to do that so we miss that. Right now Jordan hasn’t defended the way DC defended. He just doesn’t have that speed so CP still may have to guard the best offensive player. When we played those two together we typically put DC on the better offensive player which allowed Chris in essence to rest while he played. I thought it made it easier minutes for CP.”
Not only do the Clippers have chemistry issues to work out with their new additions, but they also must face and defend a team (and a divisional foe) loaded with talented guards. Frankly, I just don’t see it happening, at least not this early in the season. Both teams get an injured player back for tomorrow: Lee for the Dubs and Big Baby Davis for the Clips. Personally, I wish Lee did not play. He will be out of rhythm and his defense stinks, so am hoping he has a limited role. My only other worry is the refs. This is a nationally televised game and the refs may want to keep it close, but otherwise I’m very happy with this spot.
This is a 5 unit play. I got it at -3/-2.5 early but now it is at -3.5. Regardless, the Warriors should cover. Good luck!