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lethalweapon3

By lethalweapon3
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lethalweapon3 Grand Master

lethalweapon3

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It’s almost like “Breakfast at Wimbledon” for the Clippers, tipping off today at 12:30 PM L.A. time (3:30 PM Atlanta time). The Hawks need to be the Early Birds that catch the worm and come out with an impressive start.Blake Griffin was giving Josh Smith fits early in their last matchup in April (36 points), swishing one long-range jumper after another (8-for-10 FGs in the first quarter) until the Law of Averages kicked in. Griffin (15.7 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 3.2 TO/G) has been more dependent upon his teammates on offense so far as he struggles to play despite injuries, including a recurring burst bursa sac in his right elbow and a strained neck. But it appears he’s got much more help now.Offensively, the most impressive center in Hollywood right now doesn’t appear to be Dwight Howard. Hyland DeAndre Jordan, Jr., has scored 20 points in back-to-back games, a tally he’s achieved just four times in the previous four seasons. He’s leading the NBA in field goal shooting at 75%. While he hasn’t shown it in the regular season, he displayed an expanded range outside the paint in the preseason.Jordan’s defensive rebounding has been underwhelming, particularly in light of Griffin’s injuries. There should be some ability for Hawk forwards and centers to attack the glass, especially when he steps out of the paint trying to block shots, perhaps giving Griffin foul trouble so they can deal with the Ryan Hollinses and Ronny Turiafs of the world.The most intriguing matchup will be the Battle of Wake Forest. Super-point Chris Paul had less than 10 assists in two of his last three games, just 10 points in the game before last, and 5 turnovers in a loss to Golden State. In these past four games, he was preoccupied with Damian Lillard, Tony Parker, Kyrie Irving, and Steph Curry. If Hawks leading scorer Jeff Teague, Devin Harris and Lou Williams can wrest the pace of the game away from the Clippers with a persistent fullcourt attack, it will help limit Paul’s effectiveness. When the Hawks go small in the backcourt, look for Coach Vinnie Del Negro to deploy Eric Bledsoe, who is breaking out with his shooting, passing, and steals, and can be disruptive alongside Paul.Don’t look now, but Teague himself is joining Paul in the top ten among NBA point guards in per-minute assists (10.4 per 40 minutes, ranked 6th), while enjoying an early career-low per-possession turnover rate (12.4% of possessions). Against Miami, Teague assisted on 89% of the shots his Hawk teammates made while he was on the floor.The next most exciting matchup, if it comes to pass, will be our last Atlanta Hawk trophy holder, Jamal Crawford, up against Williams. Lou will be looking to bounce back from a disappointing 0-for-6 show in limited action against Miami (4-for-17 in his last two games). Meanwhile, Jamal is pulling off what Lou did last season by leading his team in scoring from the bench. He comes in as the leading NBA reserve in scoring (21.8 PPG), burying threes at 42 percent and leaving ankle bones all over one side of the floor. At 1.4 assists per-40 minutes so far, there’s never been less mystery over what Jamal is planning to do with the ball when he gets his hands on it. Besides, with Chris Paul around to get him in prime position to score, why not? For possibly the first time in his career (64 percent so far), more than half of Crawford’s field goals will be assisted. Additionally, Clippers assistant Bob Ociepka recently boasted to the Oregonian that he has Crawford playing defense now, and early career-highs in steals and charges-absorbed suggest as much.The other ex-Hawk to keep an eye on is Willie Green, who is starting at shooting guard with Chauncey Billups indefinitely out of action. Green, along with small forward Caron Butler, is nailing 47% of his threes. Green has also shown a commitment to go to the rim more (53.1 FG% overall).Kyle Korver shows signs of getting out of his early shooting funk, but until he does, Morrow’s break out performance against Miami may give him the lion’s share of the minutes at the wing.While we deservedly called the Clippers “Flop City” last year, there are now toll booths at the city boundaries, manned by the league execs. It will be interesting to see how L.A.’s defensive approach has transformed to cut back on the flops. In terms of blocks, steals, and charges combined, the Clippers are second only to the Bucks with 18.7 defensive plays per 100 possessions.The surly Matt Barnes has been getting a LOT of playing time (24.4 MPG), getting more time than Lamar Kardashian due to the indefinite absence of Grant Hill (knee). Watch him try to get under the skin of multiple Hawks players and keep the refs busy. Ivan, Zaza, Josh, Jeff, DeShawn… don’t fall for it!Go Hawks! (Falcons, too!)~lw3

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yungsta Enthusiast

yungsta

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Damn you, Time Warner, for not verifying my Leaguepass for broadband or mobile. Guess I'll boxscore scout and make sweeping generalizations as to who should benched/fired/traded based on any 0fers.

just go to http://www.thefirstrow.eu/ for a stream of the game. I expect us to run the big line up for this game. Teague, korver, smoove, horford, zaza. If we have smoove and horford at the PF and C they are going to pound us inside. Believe it or not but Deandre jordan has a much improved post game.
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