CP3 Has Clipps Right Where He Wants 'Em

[Sħãlïq™]

The talents of Chris Paul and his young guns are quickly shedding decades of laughingstock baggage

 

http://i.imgur.com/xCzH7.jpg

 

Ever since they trumped the Lakers in the Chris Paul Sweepstakes (with a massive assist from David Stern), the Clippers have been juggling identities like a rejected superhero from The Avengers. There's the exciting contender that features two All-Star Game starters, dominates YouTube, has a recognizable hook ("Lob City") and keeps pulling out close games because of Paul's incomparable brilliance; and there's the laughingstock of a franchise that's been owned/mutilated by the aggressively incompetent Donald Sterling, made just four playoff appearances in the past 35 years (before this season) and piled up so many injuries, bad breaks and idiotic decisions that I could barely cram them into this 2009 column.

 

Which identity would prevail? The Clippers started out 19-9, then unhinged after blowing an impressive victory over San Antonio in the most unlikely way: As Paul fetched an inbounds pass to dribble out the clock, he lost his balance and improbably threw the ball right to San Antonio's Gary Neal … who even more improbably sank the game-tying 3 in a sports-movie ending that any producer would have rejected. San Antonio's overtime victory spawned a textbook Clippers free fall: They won just seven of their next 18, making headlines in mid-March by not firing Vinny Del Negro, then pretending five solid days of internal teetering about the coach's future never happened. It happened.1

 

If you remember, Sterling hired Del Negro for a decidedly Clipperish reason: The Bulls were covering half of Del Negro's salary last season, which meant Sterling only had to pay for half a coach. You get what you pay for, whether it's a recycled coach, a hooker or a slum building … and reportedly, Sterling has paid for all three. But that's beside the point. Del Negro survived March for a decidedly Clipperish reason: It was simply too late to find a decent replacement. This didn't matter on Monday night, not with Dr. Paul performing yet another crunch-time surgery on Memphis. You know the recipe by now: Paul setting up everyone else for 44 minutes, then going into Isiah 2.0 mode and taking command down the stretch. The Clippers lead Memphis 3-1 in the series; all three wins came down to the final minute; all three wins happened because Paul controls the final minutes of tight games better than anyone. He's incredible. That's the only word that applies. It's not just the plays themselves, or his innate ability to make the correct decision nearly every time, but the way he carries himself as it happens.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7909780/the-new-clipper-nation

[Check my Stats]

Del Negro is so bad.