You know the season is gone to shi- uh, waste when the most excitement the Los Angeles Clippers have given their fans lately involves a possible on the court altercation between your rental back up point guard and an Aussie center.
Losers of their last three games, we had to settle for enjoying a face-off between the Clippers Steve Blake and Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut, who before this season was infamous for high-fiving himself between free throws. Not exactly Mayweather Vs. Pacquiao but for a team with the Clippers checkered history, I guess it was good enough.
Blake drew Bogut’s ire after knocking the Bucks Ersan Ilyasova to the floor on a lay up and was rewarded with a hard screen back down court, which caused Blake to angrily respond by getting in Bogut’s face. Good to see the much smaller Blake not back down and his former Portland teammate Travis Outlaw stick up for him too. Check the video out below.
For the Bucks, winners of 17 of their last 21 – including a surprise loss to these Clippers – winning this game and not backing down was a key point, as evidenced by this excerpt from the AP’s recap:
The teams congregated near center court and Jennings got in Blake’s face, but no punches were thrown. Blake and Bogut received double technical fouls and Jennings got a technical of his own.
But it sparked Jennings, who got an outlet pass on a two-on-one break with Stackhouse and froze the defender by faking a behind-the-back pass for a layup that made it 81-66 and brought the crowd to its feet.
The Clippers got picked apart 107-89 of course, so even if that small battle served as a moral victory, they ultimately lost the war.
It didn’t get any better against the struggling Toronto Raptors, who had their way with LA to the tune of a 114-92 win.
Not much to say about the game other than it’s just another poor overall effort. That leaves seven more games for the Clippers this season, with the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.
As the season comes to a close – the recent losses notwithstanding – there is a great opportunity for members of Clipper Nation to get together and share war stories celebrate on Saturday April 10, courtesy of ClipsNation.com and their “Clips Nation Night”.
If you have the chance, make sure to scoop up some tickets (at a discount) for a chance to win some free prizes, watch the Clippers (hopefully) beat the Golden State Warriors and much more. The link above has more information.
PS, paper bag masks are optional.
-Will.
“Diary of a Clippers Fan” will be published Mondays and Thursdays during the regular season.
