Your humble correspondent only caught maybe 20 minutes, in bits and pieces, of the HUGE MONSTER WIN over the evil nonbastardized children of favor down the hallway, aka the LA Lakers, accomplished with considerable aplomb by our heroes of this heralded story, yes your hometown former san diego & buffalo residents, your, mine, our (drumroll) LA Clippers. Forgive me, I am still away from the Alf Manor and my tivo (media crack) and comfortable nestled on the windward side of Oahu with my wife, daughter, and parents on a beachfront vacation property, and thus the ocean and a ping pong table were calling, variances in volume and intermittency notwithstanding, as well as that pesky thing known as work. I was able, though, to cop a squat in front of the idiot box for the grand finale, though, followed by Sam’s feelgood courtside chat with Cheryl Miller. So good to see Sam back and actually contributing. Corey Maggette went absolutely apeshit ballistic. Elton looking like a cold assassin in the clutch yet again. And speaking of cold assassins, Kobe did it that otha level style for 3 quarters and then beautifully disappeared in the 4th in an intricate web of ostentatiously awe inspiring clipper defensive orchestrations. And thus was born an exact numerical tie with Golden State, with the clippers holding the tie-breaker vis a vis their better record within the division for a possible ticket punching into the NBA playoffs, which would be the first time they’ve accomplished said feat for a 2nd straight year since 1993. and wouldn’t you know there’s not much time for back patting and breath catching as the Portland Trailblazers are in town, the dangerous type of team with just about nothing to play for yet with not quite enough of a crappy record that there’s much point in tanking anything. If I were will robinson I’d be looking over my shoulder for screaming robots, let’s just put it that way. Clips need to take care of biz tonite and notch this one on the bedpost for the gipper. There are no such things as gimmes, but this is mos def a game that should be won ie not lost. Signing off for now, see you later unless you see me first. Mahalo, Aloha, or fill in your salutation or lack thereof here. Go clips.

Yes, well, that was pretty depressing. An absolute must win game and, despite a monster evening from Elton, the Clippers managed to fritter it away, in overtime, no less. Three straight losses after that feel good win over the Lakers at Staples, the pinnacle of what seemed at the moment such a dramatic turnaround. And now we’re in the shit again. Do other teams jockeying with the clips for playoff position just want it more? Are our guys just playing sloppy, or soft? The fire seems to be there, but the execution, the execution, especially in the crunch, seems to be lacking. An extra turnover here, a botched defensive assignment or missed box out there, and games are won and/or lost.

And here we are, full, or at least, semi, circle. Back at home, this time for a “road” game against our down the hall nemeses once again. But that’s a different story. I guess it’s my job to still look back on this putrid mess of what occurred at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. Another TERRIBLE third quarter. The clips came out of the half up 12, and then got outplayed to the tune of 29-14 in the squad’s least favorite period. The 4th was better, and even displayed a late Clipper rally to come back from 4 down with just a minute and a half left, led by Elton, who scored twice in the last 10 seconds including the tying shot with a second left, to put the game into overtime. Only problem with overtime was that Charlotte, er, New Orleans, er, Oklahoma City jumped out to a 7-0 lead about as quick as you could say Burt Baccaract, and thus was the cause’s uproar shut down for yet another night of dire pontification and acceptance that our fair clippers must submit to the whims of fate AND win out, and still might not make the postseason, for the dubious honor of getting bushwhacked by what may be the best team in the league in the Dallas Mavericks.

Not exactly cause for celebration any way you look at it. A win in this game still gave us a shot at the 7 seed and Phoenix, and maybe that’s still a possibility, but a dimmer one. We’ll see. Maybe the Clips will sweep the next 5 & things will shake out where they need to and Gloomy Gusses like myself will be happily wrong. Time (not much of it, though) will tell.

Your humble correspondent, keith el otro, signing off.

btw, I posted this at clipsnation as well; read it & weep; gratzi...

I posted a preview of tonite’s huge game at Oklohama City on Clips Nation. So, uh, go read it, as well as every other word on that especially fine world wide innernet web site. Gratzi & aloha.

Oh yeah, Hornets 247 has its own “half-assed” preview of tonite’s matchup. I dunno, I thought it was at least three quarters assed. I especially like the piece’s opening stanza:

After six months of mediocre highs and vomit-inducing lows, the Hornets' whole season pretty much comes down to tonight's game against the Clippers in Oklahoma City. If we win, the Playoffs remain a very realistic possibility. Should we lose, well, we're screwed.

So don’t think the Hornets won’t be just as fired up as the clips tonite. Both teams will be playing (or damn well should be playing) with a do-or-die mentality. Should be a good one.

I don’t mean to get all Darth Vader but the Clippers just inherited a shit salad by dropping yet another crucial game, this time in the Big D, and sad story becoming sadder, Golden State is up (very) early on the Jazz in the bay. It’s still the first quarter in Oaktown but consider this, batmen: if the dubs win that puts us back in that nightmareville virtual tie with the Warriors, and with NOOCH just ONE GAME BACK going into the monstrously huge (now) game in Oklahoma City, and absolute MUST WIN for our fair LA bastard stepchildren if ever there was one. Yoinks, Scooby, eff the mystery mobile, we need to basket weave up a 747 and put some jet fuel on our asses ASAP. Capiche? Perfecto. It’s all too confusing and confounding to commiserate with myself in reference to, which doesn’t stop me from doing just that by one iota. Tarnation, damnation, all of the above. C’mon, clips, put this loss behind us, put all the losses, all the wins, all the dreamy stares into hazy mirrors back on the back burner of inept pontification, and lets win one for the gipper in the OKC tomorrow, whoever the hell that is, the gipper I mean, and I know it was Ronald Raygun, but the other guy, the guy of which it was, can that be proscribed for inspiration. Sigh, this isn’t 1947 is it? Forget it. Aloha.

from the Dallas Morning News, a Maverick perspective on tonite’s game against our beloved Clippers (hat tip to Mavs Moneyball):

“On the bottom end, only Golden State has a realistic chance to catch the Clippers.

So go ahead with the conspiracy theory about how letting the Clippers win tonight would help the Mavericks because it would make it that much tougher for the Warriors – and any spell Don Nelson might own over the Mavs – to reach the playoffs.
Del Harris has a few words for you. The basketball gods frown on that sort of thing, the assistant coach said recently.

"It can come back to bite you," he said.

Not that any self-respecting NBA team would try to manipulate fate, especially one that can wrap up the No. 1 seed in the playoffs with a win tonight.”

Heh. Self respecting team. Well, yeah, of course, if you were #1 seed, but there’s nothing wrong with tanking to get to 6th place rather than 5th so you can avoid a powerhouse and take advantage of an arcane long gone seeding rule, right? Hello? Bueller? Anyone? What do they call it when karma comes back against you for doing something possibly not so kosher, but in a good way, is that like that vuja dei that George Carlin once opined on? (having that strange sensation that none of this has ever happened before.)

So the Mavericks can clinch home court through the playoffs with a win tonite, the cost being they serve up an advantage sandwich to the dreaded and feared Warriors of Golden State, kryptonite to their Superman. Shit, they can wrap up home court anytime, I say some well placed shenanigans, forced mental rejection of Dirk’s secret inspiration, and a nice extra solid night’s rest for Josh Howard add up to a clipper bologna victory that I’ll take any day of the week. And with gratzi in advance and arrears, of course.

Oh yeah, & yep, I’m slow. The game started already. Clippers down 3 with about 8 minutes left in the first half. I'm stuck at work still, Hawaii time and all. Enjoy, aloha, etc.

Well, yep, the Clippers lost yesterday to the highly evil nuggets of damnation from the hidden hills of Denver, Colorado. They came blowing into downtown Los Angeles with their pick axes and shovels and mined a serious blow out of the collective okoles (asses, in Hawaiian) of our fair LA bastard step children. I’ve already had my mea culpa about not watching said matchup, and even though it sits on my TIVO on the other side of the island, I know I’ll never be able to force myself to view it, some images being to painful to inflict on my medulla oblongata. I’m just not enough of a masochist to put myself through that. Close, but no cigar, gratzi.

Allen Iverson apparently went ballistic and was overall just too much. Elton and Maggs had good nights scoring the ball, but as has become painfully common, Corey coughed up the ball way too many times, this night granted more than others, and just one too many mistakes became crucial, as indicated by the close margin of defeat.

Linas Kleiza, may you burn in eternal damnation. Ok, yes, that’s an extreme view, but wow, kinda reminds you of a certain Shane Battier bomb a couple weeks ago, does it not? Both of short hair and sharp eyes and delivered daggers into the collective hearts of the most sacred nacion. Oh well. We’re still in it. The lights are still flickering, nay, they are burning bright. Our density, no, our destiny, is in our possibly not so fair hands, and despite the prognosticatorially horrific travails that a trip to Dallas may likely foretell, we must persevere, and not lose hope, and believe, for every day is a gift, fair clipper fan, and to be in the hunt this late in the season is something we have not always had. Relish it. Don’t accept it as good enough, because we must continue to push and prod for greatness in any and all arenas, but you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth with harsh words and balled up fists, you must welcome it into your home, despite its sometimes horrendous breath and clumsy hooves. You don’t necessarily have to sit this horse at the head of the table and present it with your best whiskey, but you shouldn’t toss it out into the snow, either.

peep my clips nugs preview on clips nation (woefully after the fact, sorry in arrears)

howdy all, yapping at you from Lanikai Beach in Kailua, Hawaii, with my beautiful daughter in my lap and the Mokuleia Islands standing picturesquely out the picture window behind me. Confession time, yep indeed. I am not in Alf Manor in lower Nuuanu, but here in vacationville, as the folks flew in from la la land on Friday afternoon, meaning vaycay within real life for your fair host and his wife and child. What could be better? The rub being that this place is not equipped with the customized alf satellite dish and thus without the KTLA feed from El Layme. Hay caramba indeed. So some good news & some bad news. The good news is that I was spared witnessing the Clippers close shave loss to the evil nuggets from Colorado. The bad news is I have egregiously reneged on my duties to clips nation for which I was supposed to do a game wrap up. Well this is (kind of, not really) that, but without the knowledge I should have. More good news, though, and a double dose of it. The warriors lost yesterday on the road in alamoville to the spurs, and the lakers lost today at staples to the suns. A bit of bad news, though, NOOCH won last nite at Minnesota (and even worse, because lottery watching, we need Minnie wins, right? Right.)

More later (theoretically), including my actual recap, based on hearsay and unsubstantiated rumors and lockerroom wherewithalls mixed with just a bit of magic pixie dust. salud & selah. gratzi.