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Much Mo' Than Just 'Lob City'


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Clippers' Three Party

 

http://www.nba.com/clippers/photos/post2-670-120130.jpg


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  • "They are the best team we've played all year. They have everything, a talented team, their bench is really good and they played well. They have everything. They played well. They took it to us. We have work to do.” -- OKC Thunder Head Coach Scott Brooks.
     
  • Following the Clippers' three-point shooting display, Chris Paul called this scoring display perhaps the greatest exchange he's been a part of*.

 

LOS ANGELES — There was plenty of harmony in the Clippers’ barrage to end the first half against the Thunder. But it was quickly drowned out by the roar of the crowd. Mo Williams started it off by canning his second three-pointer of the game off a feed from Chris Paul.

 

Running in transition on the very next possession, Paul whipped a cross-court pass to an open Chauncey Billups, who saw a defender running at him and passed to an even more wide-open Caron Butler in the right corner for another triple.

 

The hot hand was contagious, and the Clippers rode it out. Williams calmly rose up for another 3-pointer in transition, draining his second straight. And following a steal in the Thunder backcourt, the Clippers worked it around to Billups. He was wide open, with only a trailing Kendrick Perkins behind him.

NBA.com/clippers/features/three-party-menezes-120130.html

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* "L.A. ran out to a 36-25 lead with a sterling first quarter, which included 11 points apiece from Butler and Paul. But the Thunder crept back in the game, cutting the lead to six with 1:35 left before halftime when Durant went 1-of-2 from the free throw line. Twenty seconds later, the Clippers opened up a stretch that Chris Paul called the most “amazing” thing he’d ever seen in the NBA:

 


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  2. Reserve guard Mo Williams nailed a 3-pointer to get the lead back to nine,
  3. Caron Butler followed with a corner 3-pointer in the secondary break.
  4. The Clippers got another stop on the defensive end and Williams dropped in a pull-up three from the left wing.
  5. Butler then swiped the inbounds pass dished to Williams, who found Billups for the team’s fourth make from beyond the arc in a 51-second span."

http://www.nba.com/clippers/games/postgame-OKCLAC-120130.html

Edited by Šhãłïq
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The Clippers are becoming a really complete all-around team. It's not just lobs any more: it's defense (sick DJ and Blake blocks), and various good three-point shooters. Here's a great read on the same topic:

 

Lob City … For 3, And So Much More!

By Sekou Smith

 

http://www.nba.com/clippers/photos/okclac-120130-5.jpg

 

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Don’t let the crazy dunks and all of the above the rim stuff fool you. The Clippers work from long distance, too. They hit four straight 3-pointers to end the first half against the Thunder last night, a barrage that was just as impressive to these eyes as Blake Griffin‘s monster dunk over Kendrick Perkins.

 

And they’ll scrap with you if they have to, just ask the Lakers. What isn’t lost in this storm of Clippers’ highlights is the fact that this team is playing in a way that delivers on all of the promise their acquisition of Chris Paul (and Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups) suggested they would.

 

A bruised ego for Perkins isn’t the only thing the Thunder left the Staples Center with last night. They got the same wake-up call as other teams that have faced the Clippers this season. The Clippers pose a clear and present danger to the order of the things in the Western Conference this season. And if you don’t believe it, just rewind the tape on their demolition of the league-leading Thunder on the second night of a Denver-Los Angeles back-to-back set.

 

In addition to the excitement that accompanies every game, the Clippers have shown themselves to be an extremely physical, scrappy bunch capable of shooting the cover off of the ball, they were 13-for-25 from deep last night and also shot .562 from the floor.

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/01/31/lob-city-for-3-and-so-much-more/

 

“It [the Clippers’ lead] went from six to 18 in a minute,” Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. “That doesn’t happen very much and it is probably the only time it will happen this year.”

The Clippers shot 56.3% from the field and finished 13-of-25 from 3-point range (52%).

Edited by Šhãłïq
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Another good read on 'the barrage':

 

Before Blake Jam, A Memorable Barrage

By Kevin Arnovitz,ESPN.com

 

LOS ANGELES -- In a game managed by tireless preparation, thick playbooks and knowledgeable coaching staffs, there are moments in the NBA guided by beautiful chaos. Before it was upstaged by Blake Griffin's monstrous pruning of Kendrick Perkins in the third quarter, the Los Angeles Clippers put together one of the most electric 50 seconds of basketball the league has witnessed this season.

 

After the Oklahoma City Thunder had whittled the Clippers' 16-point lead down to six, the Clippers fired off four 3-pointers in less than a minute to build that margin to 18 headed into halftime, a run Kevin Durant said won the game for the Clips.

 

"It was amazing," Mo Williams said. "We were just locked in."

 

Williams notched two of the four 3-pointers during the spurt. The first came on a drive-and-kick from Chris Paul, the only shot during the barrage that came on an honest-to-goodness half-court possession.

 

"We were playing off our point guard," Caron Butler said. "He and Blake draw so much attention that we just make plays off them."

 

Butler was the recipient of the most selfless series after Williams stole the ball on the other end from Russell Westbrook and raced downcourt. Williams dished the ball to Paul, who quickly sent it over to Chauncey Billups, who had a wide-open shot. Billups isn't accustomed to passing up clean looks, but shuttled the ball immediately to Butler in the corner. Another triple.

 

"It's like, 'Who do you run to? Pick your poison,'" Billups said. "Everyone here is unselfish, so if they take me, then you shoot."

 

Williams, Butler and Billups aren't shy, but they're also teamed with the savviest distributor in the league. When Paul saw a scattered Thunder transition defense nowhere near Williams on the left side, Paul kicked it ahead for a Williams PUJIT (pull-up jumper in transition) -- the third.

Butler stole the Thunder inbounds pass, kicked it out to Paul, who passed it to an open Williams. When James Harden closed on Williams hard, the ball went up top to Billups, who drilled the final 3 in the shooting bonanza. After the game, Butler spoke about the unique adrenaline rush that overtakes a unit when it assembles a run like that.

 

"You've played basketball for so long that you just feel the momentum changing when you go up and down," Butler said. "You feel like everything is going right. It's a certain feeling you get."It feels fresh," Butler said. "Really fresh"

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime

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This team could be a real threat come playoff time if everything is clicking then.

 

It's kind of hard to argue. Just 18 games into the season they've beat the Blazers, Heat, Lakers, Mavs, Thunder, Nuggets and Grizzlies.

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