The D.A.Y. the Clippers refused to die
50 more from Kobe is not enough.
By Sam Rubenstein
T.G.I.Fri-daaaaaay!
This was a long week. No time for small talk. There were only two games last night, so let’s get right to them.
LA CLIPPERS 118 LA LAKERS 110
Kobe scored 50 again, and though he denies it, he was tired for the last 8 minutes or so of the game. As he wore down, the Lakers blew a 10-point lead, and the Clips got a huge spark from the return of Sam Cassell. His veteran leadership was priceless, but you can’t overlook the monster nights from Corey Maggette (39-8-9 on 10 of 15 shooting) and Elton Brand (32-12-7). The Clippers refuse to go away and let the Warriors settle into the 8th seed. Golden State is a half game up, though the Lakers are in somewhat of a slump and are only two games ahead of the Warriors for the 7th seed. So the lesson from this game from a Lakers perspective is that when Kobe scores 50+, sometimes the Lakers win, sometimes they lose. There are no right answers. The Clippers could have quit on their season many times, with all of the veterans that got their big contracts, but they kept playing hard. Very backwards in today’s NBA.
CLEVELAND 94 NEW JERSEY 76
The Cavs used a big third quarter to put this one out of reach, with LeBron leading the way. He finished with 35 and 8. I think the last line of the AP recap says it all about the Nets “Although the Nets have a league-high four 7-footers on their roster, Kidd leads the club with 8.0 rebounds per game.” Jason Kidd is a great rebounder for a guard, but the Nets have some really bad 7 footers. In this game they were outrebounded 42-29. The Cavs have clinched home court in round one, and are now fighting with the Bulls for the #2 seed. Jersey falls to a game and a half behind Washington.
43 Responses to “The D.A.Y. the Clippers refused to die”
Apr.13 at 8:35 am
Ryan Jones says:
Kobe should retire.
Apr.13 at 8:47 am
Alex says:
Kobe should retire to play baseball for couple of years and then come back better than ever. By that time Lakers young players would be more developed and may be they finally sign a quality free agent or two.
Apr.13 at 8:53 am
Bigi says:
Baseball…Nah!…Soccer?Hell YEAH!Kobe and Dinho!He did meet him last summer,right??
Apr.13 at 9:06 am
Sam Rubenstein says:
Since you mentioned baseball, I should point out that Jose Reyes has 11 RBI, which is second in the NL. His OPS is over 1.000. He bats leadoff. It’s way early in the season, but that’s unheard of.
Apr.13 at 9:23 am
data187 says:
did anyone watch the nets/brons game last night?
lebronze was getting phantom calls like crazy.
if you breath hard on lebronze, he goes to the line.
i wonder if the stern bot is giving him the d wade treatment.
Apr.13 at 9:29 am
Ryan Jones says:
Hey, Sam, what is a “Jose Reyes”?
Apr.13 at 10:30 am
Khalid Salaam says:
Sam, baseball doesn’t start until May 15th. What you’re watching now is a souped up version of spring training. Sorry but you’re gonna have to deal with it.
Apr.13 at 10:42 am
Dblizzy! says:
It’s just like A-Rod, the stupid NY Post said yesterday “A-Rod has 6 homers in his first 7 games, if he stays on this pace he’ll finish with 135 for the year” Stupid mofos got too much time on their hands. Speaking in relative terms, Kobe is the greatest scorer of all time.
Apr.13 at 11:07 am
Boing Dynasty says:
My favorite part of the start of baseball season, is when a player hits a home-run in his teams first game, and then waiting for someone to say “Hey, hes on pace for 182 this year.”
- For everone on A Rod’s (A?)rod, Chris Shelton had 11 home-runs in like 6 at bats last year, by ALLSTAR he was in AAA.
Apr.13 at 11:21 am
Sam Rubenstein says:
Khalid, I know you are secretly watching baseball and pretending you don’t care. You must still be hurting from the way King Felix ran through your team.
Obviously Reyes will not keep that up all year. He was intentionally walked last night with a runner on 3rd. Respect.
Apr.13 at 11:34 am
Sic dude says:
Yo Kobe’s pretty Ridiculous
Apr.13 at 11:58 am
Tommy Patron says:
Yeah, Lebron was getting mad calls, as were other Cavs, yet no love from the refs for JKidd and VC going to the hole. It was total bs. Also, I think part of the rebounding problem for NJ is their spacing on offense, and not just lack of rebounding ability by the players themselves, but it doesn’t help when Nachtbar is playing lots of minutes at the “4″.
Apr.13 at 12:08 pm
Cub Buenning says:
Tommy, you can’t really fade the Snackbar. Maybe the position, but not the player.
Apr.13 at 12:56 pm
data187 says:
also, i just checked the nets roster..they only have 3 7-footers. nenad, twin, and mikki. nenad is injured and collins’ feet are cemented to the ground. you can’t get rebounds if you have a zero inch vertical.
Apr.13 at 12:57 pm
data187 says:
btw snackbar = tim legler 2000
minus the hot girlfriend.
Apr.13 at 1:03 pm
Boing Dynasty says:
data i think they where counting Boone as a 7 footer
Apr.13 at 1:04 pm
Jonathan says:
yeah Kobe did look tired. I was thinking he was gonna drop 60 on them. check out what I wrote about this on my blog if you want: http://dailyballin.blogspot.com/
Apr.13 at 1:48 pm
albie1kenobi says:
one thing you can’t teach in basketball is height.
too bad coach frank can’t teach them anything as they can’t learn anything else.
and clips. i freaking hate you! we all prefer to witness the warriors giving the mavs scare in their first round. if they win the rest of their games (3 winnables and one against phoenix), then GSW is out for sure. anyone knows who has the tie-breaker between GSW and clips? i think clips does. EFF.
Apr.13 at 1:57 pm
jbn74sb says:
Here is the real recap from the Lakers- Clippers game: Corey Magette, who has never made an all star team, took 24 FT’s. Kobe, the best player in the league, took 15. Luke Walton and Lamar Odom, in a combined 71 minutes, had zero FT attempts. Guess who won.
Apr.13 at 2:01 pm
rgeezy says:
magette drives and attacks the hope more then luke walton and lamar odom combined and hes always been at the top of the league in free throw attempts…wats ur point?
Apr.13 at 2:19 pm
Cub Buenning says:
Love the Laker salt.
Apr.13 at 2:27 pm
snyper48 says:
Please,can someone tell me what happened to the career of Jalen Rose? He was supposed to be a 2000 version of Pippen with more offensive skills.And Cat Mobley? And please I need an expert to tell me what a f*ck is wrong with Bonzi Wells, trying outartest Ron Artest?The NBA is a shady place to work sometimes…
Apr.13 at 2:28 pm
Sam Rubenstein says:
Maggette has been a fantasy stud for years because of how many FTs he takes at a pretty high percentage. He is weirdly high on this list considering the big names surroinding him: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/stats/bycategory?cat=Fielding&conference=NBA&year=season_2006&sort=30
but Kobe takes more.
Apr.13 at 2:37 pm
jbn74sb says:
rgeezy - Please mix in a grammar class prior to entering into a debate with me. Typos are one thing - failing to understand the difference between then and than is another. Sure, Maggette drives more THAN Luke and Lamar. But for him to shoot 9 more FT’s THAN Kobe, Luke, and Lamar combined? And, the last time the Lakers and Clippers played, he shot more FT’s than the entire Lakers team. His style of play is bad for basketball, and the refs should be smart enough to not fall for his antics. For all the complaining during the Finals last year, at least Wade is a superstar. Maggette isn’t even a star.
Apr.13 at 2:51 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Boston Snackbar is WAY cooler than Tim Legler ever was. I don’t remember ever seeing Legler dunk on anyone.
Apr.13 at 2:55 pm
Sherri says:
Corey Maggette that METROSEXUAL fag went on the line like 24 times plus not to mention till the late 4th quarter the whole clips cept for maggette and brand were in single digits, & then the man frm pluto started hittin` 3’s. the refs gave them the game. i hope Clips dun make it to the playoff`s…bllllaaahhghhh
Apr.13 at 3:38 pm
albie1kenobi says:
maybe we were watching different games, but corey was going hard to the hoop and odom and luke settled for too many outside shots. you can’t create contact and shoot freethrows when you are just standing at the three point line. kobe, even with his 50 points outburst, couldn’t create enough contacts to draw that many fouls.
also, lakers committed a lot of bad fouls (like when kobe ran into jason hart when the ball wasn’t even inbounded yet) that put them into the penalty early on. that definitely creates even more freethrows.
lastly, kobe was on fire in the 3rd (and the first half too, i suppose), but the interior defense was ridiculously terrible. which laker bigs played? turiaf and spotty minutes from bynum. they don’t have ANY inside presence.
with all that said, just know that i was rooting for the clips to lose because i want GSW to make the playoffs. as for lakers, they are gonna be decimated by phoenix in the playoff this year. it won’t be close.
Apr.13 at 3:59 pm
Mike says:
That defense the Clippers played on Kobe last night in fourth quarter was something I have not seen before in an NBA game. I mean three guys practically ignored their own man and RAN towards Kobe as soon as he caught the ball past the half court line! I’ve seen it being done in spurts before but never before have I seen it for an entire quarter. Was even Jordan ever covered like THAT???
Apr.13 at 4:23 pm
francis says:
Jason Collins, How the hell is this sorry ass still in the nba? Zero vertical…that’s funny, and a shot that goes clank! Net’s should have sent this lummox to the d-league years ago. I am suprised that with RJ’s hops he doesn’t average more board than kidd.
Apr.13 at 4:25 pm
cdrumz86 says:
Here’s a scenario for all you salty Laker fans: Clips and Warriors win out, and the Lakers don’t even make the playoffs. Face the facts: take away Kobe, and you guys have a D-League team. No amount of homophobic slurs and ironic whining about certain players getting preferential treatment from the refs will save you from this fate.
Apr.13 at 4:27 pm
Shiz says:
Message to Smush Parker: The playoff’s start soon…Get your head outta ur ass.
Message to Phil Jackson: Why not sign Penny as the Laker 07 version of Ron Harper? Then at least u’ll have the excuse of having a “big lead guard” as the excuse why the team can’t seem to deny penetration from opposing pg’s.
Message to LO: DRIVE THE F*CKING BASKETBALL!
Message to Kwame:…..Keep chillin…seriously.
Apr.13 at 4:29 pm
francis says:
The return of Cassell is good news for the clip’s, and spell’s trouble for the west’s bottom dwellers.
Apr.13 at 4:30 pm
Shiz says:
francis: the reason RJ doesn’t average more boards than Kidd is simple…He’s terrible. And just as injury prone as Vince. Hard as that is to picture…
Apr.13 at 5:02 pm
data187 says:
russ - agreed…snackbar is much cooler than legler. but is he cooler than ben handlogten?
Apr.13 at 5:15 pm
G$ says:
Sherri, Shouldn’t that be a “nappy-headed metrosexual fag?”
That way the racism can help wash down the homophobia. Now perhpas if he was cheating on his “cute little mexican” wife while in Denver we’d really have something to talk about. Lakers out like Imus-
Apr.13 at 5:18 pm
pepito says:
In a perfect post-season world: Clippers would be facing Suns with a (slight) chance in hell of winning; Warriors would face Mavericks with huge chance for an upset; Kobe would be facing third year of a lengthy prison sentence. Clipper Nation: Hang tough! Warrior fans: Here’s hoping the Lakers slip. Classy, non-mypoic, non-homophobic Laker fans (what few there are): You’ve got the most gifted superstar in the league, but he is surrounded by a very mediocre cast and something called “Smush” running the point; not good.
Apr.13 at 5:48 pm
albie1kenobi says:
i’m not completely familiar with the term “nappy”. can someone educate me on that? isn’t it something hair-related? and doesn’t maggette have a shave head?
on another note, nets have always been a terrible rebounding team, after jayson williams left the team (and before he shot that dude). remember some guy name kenyon martin? he got hops too but he sucked at rebounding. as i’ve said before, you can’t teach height (or hops), but apparently you can’t teach rebounding either.
Apr.13 at 10:00 pm
Brad says:
a nappy in australia means a diaper. i thought that was the reference at first, i.e. the brown colour (aussie spelling)of excrement but i remembered you guys dont use that term. what does it mean then? i know what ‘hoes’ is, tho, and i do know how offensive that statement was. but the nets letting kenyon to go and prematurely waste away on the bench of the overly talented nuggets team was ther worst decision in history. i just realised, when ‘melo needs a max deal in the next few years, the nuggets are screwed salary wise. Iverson, Melo, Kenyon, and the young JR Smith won’t stay for free two years from now.then their egos will break the chemistry, and they will become the Denver Knicks. You heard it from here first.
PS. money says kobe’s dropping 60 on suns tonight
Apr.14 at 7:23 am
Darksaber says:
As my girl said, “corey Magette, yueahhhh!” Jeez, what a game.
Apr.14 at 7:25 am
Darksaber says:
Nice to see Gollum’s still playing high level hoops. Didn’t notice him the last 4 MONTHS! Yayy Sam.
Apr.14 at 7:49 am
Slobodan Chutzpah says:
It’s funny to me that this Laker slide has coincided with Kobe again starting to jack up shots like crazy, and no one seems to notice. In that game vs. the Clips there was a fastbreak with Walton and Kobe all by their lonesome, and Walton actually handed the ball to Kob for a dunk, even though the man already had, like, 46 points and there was no reason Walton couldn’t have layed it in himself. Kobe’s like a big bully on that team, and his teammates are quitting on him, again. Would you muster the energy to give it your all on the defensive end when you rarely touch the ball on offense? Thought so… Everybody’s raving about his 50+-point performances but watching one guy ignore his teammates so completely just turns my stomach. And no, the Lakers don’t need Kobe to take all those shots; they really aren’t that bad. But of course if one guy has taken 15 consecutive shots, you might find it difficult to suddenly make shots at the end of the game, too. Also, refs didn’t decide the game. It generally helps you win games if your team can rebound a little.
Apr.14 at 10:44 am
francis says:
Lakers suck!….go clips.
Apr.14 at 4:36 pm
Darksaber says:
Mambiatch (le shooter) is like that: started the season on some “teammate” shiznit, probably cause his knee wasn’t quite ready, but since then? Bedlam on the court. Him playing like this is impressive in one sense, he’s shooting them out of the playoffs. Nice recap Slobo, on point.