Los Angeles Clippers Blog – Page 31 – NBA Blog

Clippers sign Jordan Hamilton to 10-day contract

Los Angeles Clippers sign Jordan Hamilton to 10-day contract

The Los Angeles Clippers announced today they have signed free agent forward Jordan Hamilton to a 10-day contract.

Hamilton, 24, comes to the Clippers from the Reno Bighorns of the NBA Development League. He averaged 18.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists for Reno in 27 games (22 starts) and is the 40th GATORADE call-up of the 2014-15 season.

Originally drafted by the Dallas Mavericks with the 26th overall pick in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft, Hamilton was traded to the Denver Nuggets on Draft Day. He has career averages of 5.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in 13.3 minutes over 126 games (15 starts) with Denver and the Houston Rockets.

The Los Angeles native spent two years at the University of Texas, earning second team All-American by the USBWA following his sophomore season. He averaged 14.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists for his career at Texas over 70 games.

Teams continue to employ Hack-a-DeAndre strategy

Teams continue to employ Hack-a-DeAndre strategy

DeAndre Jordan is awful at shooting free throws. He’s hitting 40.8% FT this season, and is 42.2% FT for his NBA career. Opposing teams sometimes try to use this to their advantage. Here’s ESPN Los Angeles reporting:

Hack-a-Jordan. Deck-a-DeAndre. Jab-a-D.J.

Call it what you want, but the intentional fouling of DeAndre Jordan reached a new low on Monday as the Los Angeles Clippers center was sent to the free throw line a career-high 28 times, 14 in the fourth quarter alone. That was partly due to the fact that he made only 10 of those attempts.

“I dropped out of college,” Jordan said, “but percentage-wise I don’t think that’s good.”

Despite his struggles at the free throw line, Jordan scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, just two boards shy of his third straight 20-20 game as the Clippers beat the San Antonio Spurs 119-115, winning their third straight game against a Western Conference playoff team without Blake Griffin.

The story after the game, however, was Jordan’s constant trips to the free throw line and a strategy that dragged the game on for almost three hours. It is nothing new for Jordan, who has now been sent to the free throw line 54 times over the past two games.

Spurs visit the Clippers tonight

Here’s the San Antonio Express-News blog reporting on the Spurs, who head to Los Angeles to visit the Clippers tonight:

The Spurs view their annual rodeo trip as an opportunity to bond and gear themselves up for the stretch run. They need that now more than ever as they enter the second half of the season still stuck in seventh place in the bloodbath that is the Western Conference despite winning 13 of their last 17 before the All-Star break.

If they’re going to climb up the standings, winning games against the six teams above them is critical. Especially when said teams are missing a key player, as the Clippers are without injured All-Star Blake Griffin. His absence didn’t prevent the Clippers from spanking Dallas and Houston by a combined 32 points in their most recent outings. But it leaves them perilously thin with Glen Davis as their primary backup big.

Unclear when Blake Griffin will return for Clippers

Unclear when Blake Griffin will return for Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers face a true test in the near future, as Blake Griffin won’t be around to dunk, rebound and all those other fun things that he contributes. It’s not yet known how long he’ll be out. Here’s the Orange County Register reporting:

“Tough.”

Chris Paul, not the happiest player right now, used that word 10 times in 96 seconds after the Clippers lost, 131-108, Sunday afternoon.

He undersold it.

Sure, the Clippers lost their fourth game in a row, but the team got way worse news Saturday night.

All-Star forward Blake Griffin will leave the team to fly to Los Angeles and undergo surgery Monday to remove a staph infection from his right elbow. Griffin, the team’s leading scorer, will be out between 10 days and six weeks.

He’s scheduled to be re-evaluated after the All-Star break.

Griffin, who has had issues with a burst bursa sac in that elbow since he was in high school, had fluid from the elbow drained as recently as last week while the team was in New York.

Blake Griffin to undergo surgery for staph infection, will miss 2015 All-Star game

The Los Angeles Clippers announced today that All-Star forward Blake Griffin will undergo surgery in Los Angeles on Monday, Feb. 9 to remove a staph infection in his right elbow. Griffin will be re-evaluated after the All-Star break.

Griffin’s procedure is scheduled to be performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache and assisted by Clippers team physician Dr. Steven Shimoyama.

Griffin, 25, is averaging 22.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists while shooting 50.1 percent from the field in 35.3 minutes this season and was recently selected to his fifth NBA All-Star game.

Shortly after this news, it was announced that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver picked Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard as Griffin’s injury replacement on the 2015 Western conference All-Star team.

Chris Paul fined for criticizing referee

Chris Paul fined for criticizing referee

Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul has been fined $25,000 for public criticism of officiating, it was announced today by Rod Thorn, President, Basketball Operations.

Paul made his comments following the Clippers’ 105-94 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday, Feb. 5, at Quicken Loans Arena.

According to the Associated Press, “the penalty is in line with others the NBA has levied for being critical of officials. Paul was given a technical by Lauren Holtkamp on Thursday night and afterward said the call was ”ridiculous” and seemed to imply that one of the NBA’s two female officials may have been in over her head, saying ”this might not be for her.”

Clippers dropped by Nets in Brooklyn

Clippers dropped by Nets in Brooklyn

Do the Los Angeles Clippers play like a championship contender? For stretches, yes. Other times, certainly not. In general, serious title favorites show consistency, and that’s something the Clips have struggled with this season. They dropped a shocker to the Nets in Brooklyn Monday. Here’s ESPN Los Angeles reporting:

When the regular season wraps up, the Los Angeles Clippers can look back at games like Monday’s meltdown in Brooklyn and won’t have to wonder for long why they don’t have home court advantage or can’t advance past the first round.

It may just be one game, but the Clippers’ inability to close out a Nets team that was 17-28 and out the East playoff picture is a larger problem than a one-game aberration. It is the perfect example of the Clippers’ consistent lack of consistency.

This same Clippers team that gets pushed around by the New Orleans Pelicans one night can blowout the Spurs by 20 points in San Antonio the next night. Then for an encore two nights later squander an eight-point lead in the final minute and lose to the Nets.

If it’s hard to figure out what kind of team the Clippers are from one night to the next, you’re not alone. They’re not entirely sure, either.

“I think that’s plagued us the whole season,” Clippers forward Matt Barnes said when asked about the inconsistent play. “I think that’s something we have to continue work on and continue to focus on and execute.”

Clippers set to begin tough road trip

Clippers set to begin tough road trip

Los Angeles has won eight of 10, including Wednesday’s victory at Utah, its 13th straight against the Jazz. The Clippers play their next seven games on the road, including stops in San Antonio, Cleveland, Toronto, Oklahoma City and Dallas. During the 8-2 stretch, DeAndre Jordan is averaging 12.8 points while shooting 79.1 percent from the field. He leads the NBA in field goal percentage (73 percent) and rebounding (13.3 rpg). He’s also blocked at least one shot in 33 straight games, the longest current streak in the NBA. Blake Griffin has also been on a tear, shooting 54.5 percent from field and averaging 23.0 points over his last 10 games.

Pau Gasol does not miss media glare of Los Angeles

The media spotlight is a powerful thing. It is usually quite good for those who need publicity, but can also quite a distraction for others who are already well-known and would appreciate a little less attention once in a while. Such is the struggle of pro athletes who live the life we all dream of. Here’s the Los Angeles Daily News reporting:

Pau Gasol of the Chicago Bulls on Thursday morning talked about his emotional return to Los Angeles to face the Lakers on Thursday night at Staples Center. He spoke of the memories he’ll realize once he steps onto the floor and all sorts of warm and fuzzy things.

He doesn’t miss the media scrutiny of Los Angeles, however. He made no bones about that.

“Obviously, when things were going well here, it was exceptional,” said Gasol, who spent seven seasons with the Lakers and helped them win NBA titles in 2009 and 2010. “They say L.A. and New york are two of the top cities, the best cities to win at. But they’re probably two of the tougher cities to lose and struggle because you get so much coverage that media have to create stories.”

Matt Barnes fined $25,000 by NBA

Matt Barnes fined $25,000 by NBA

Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes has been fined $25,000 for directing inappropriate language toward a fan, it was announced today by Rod Thorn, President, Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred with 4:28 remaining in the second quarter of the Clippers’ 120-100 win over the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 25, at US Airways Center.

Barnes responded angrily on Twitter to news he was being fined. Here’s a series of his tweets all together: “Another 25k! The part of the story the nba hasn’t told you was my language wasnt directed at a fan, I was talkn to the owner of the Suns who was sitting on the baseline & I only said something to him AFTER he cussed at me, BUT because I didn’t SNITCH I get fined!! … You can take my money, I care about winning!! … I’ve been fined 50k in the last mnth for kicking a “PAPER”Gatorade cup that had alil bit of water in it that didn’t even hit anyone & responding to an OWNER who cussed at me first.. 50,000 dollars for that?? Come on now!”