I’ve watched more Clippers games this seasons than the rest of my life combined; they almost play my perfect brand of basketball…Blake needs to take it to the rack more and they’d be perfect.

Had a few words with Jovan Buha from the Clippers Blog:

Knowing what you know now, did the Clippers pay too high a price for Paul?

No. I look at it this way — are the Clippers set up better now or in the future after the trade? I say both. There’s no way L.A. would be consistently beating elite teams with last year’s squad and simply the additions of Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups. In the future, with time to gel and additions through free agency and trades, they’re only going to get better. If the last four games have proven anything, Paul is the Clippers’ offensive maestro and the difference-maker from being a playoff team and being a contender.

Is it a big problem that Blake likes to shoot long jumpers more than he attacks the rim like a rabid animal off the high screen?

Yes, it’s a huge problem. Blake’s jumper, while improved, is far from a proven product. His outside shooting efficiency is actually down from 33 percent to 31 percent this year but that’s more of a reflection of his 4.8 attempts per game (too high and as a result, lowers his percentage out there). When he attacks the rim, he’s much, much better (71.0 percent shooting at the rim). A pick-and-roll with Paul is much more efficient if Griffin rolls towards rim destruction.

Is Neil Olshey executive of the year?

Yes, thus far it appears Neil Olshey should be the executive of the year. He turned a laughingstock franchise into a fringe contender with the Chris Paul trade and signings of Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups (for $2,000,032!). Who else made better moves this offseason?

Injuries

Toronto
Andrea Bargnani – Calf, should play
Jerryd Bayless – game-time decision, should play

Los Angeles
Chris Paul – Hamstring, game-time decision
Caron Butler – Knee, questionable

Match-ups

Point Guard
Paul is sick. Mo Williams is a solid back-up. Bledsoe is better than any back-up we got. And Chauncey can make it happen if he gets the call. That’s about all she wrote.
Edge: Clippers

Shooting Guard
At least DeMar showed up for the Blazers game on Friday; it took him 21 shots to get 22 points, but at least he got to the line 10 times. He hasn’t stepped up in Bargnani’s absence, but neither has anyone else really. While Billups wont break him down off the bounce, he will make him pay for every inch of open space DeRozan gives him and play tight defense on our boy.
Edge: Clippers

Small Forward
It’s going to be frustrating to watch a juicy, out of shape Caron Butler make things happen against our defense, but that’s exactly what’s going  down this afternoon. If Caron doesn’t go, the Raptors small forwards are actually better than anything the Clippers have.
Edge: Clippers

Power Forward
Bargnani’s supposed to play,  but he’s been sitting for over a week now and wont be crisp. There isn’t a whole he can do to control Griffin if he gets it in his head, but if he isn’t too much out of game shape, he can make things difficult on the phenom. Expect too see a lot of dunks and offensive rebound-put-backs tonight from the Clips, though.
Edge: Clippers

Center
Amir Johnson is a poor mans DeAndre Jordan. You could make the case that Amir has better offensive weapons, but what he does better on defense, Jordan more than makes up for on defense. The Raptors have more depth here, but Jordan is a work horse; it might even out since DeAndre doesn’t do enough outside of blocking shots and dunking (work with me here, I couldn’t give them a clean sweep).
Edge: Even

Keys to the Game

1. Let Blake shoot the ball every time he gets it; it’s frustrating to watch, but he loves the jumper, and shouldn’t be a go-to thing for him. Off the high pick-n-roll, let the guy roll and force Paul create some genius on every possession.
2. Control the boards; outside of Griffin and Paul, the rest of the team is pretty average to mediocre.
3. Make the Clippers work defensively; Chris Paul is injured and limping, Jordan can be bated with a pump-fake and Blake isn’t making all defensive team (although he can make highlight blocks). The Clippers are going to score, nothing the Raptors can do to stop that, but if we make them work a little, hopefully the early start time will mess with them

The Line

The Clippers are 9.5 point favourites at home with an over/under of 184.5; I’m setting the over/under of Blake and Jordan dunking at 10. The Clippers dropped a heart breaker against the Timberwolves on Friday, and should be plenty pissed off today. If Bargnani is playing, and isn’t too rusty, the Raptors should cover. It’s starting to get more serious than just covering games and looking at the bright-side of things, though. The Raptors have dropped 7 in a row, and could easily drop the next 5 on the road. Have to make a stand sometime, yea?

That’s how you start a Western road swing, with a come-from-behind win over a team who let up just enough for the us to pull the rug out from under their feet. The Raptors got down 22 points early in the 2nd quarter but spent the rest of the game attacking the Clippers, finally taking the lead with a big 23-2 run to close out the game. This is the second game in a row the Raptors got themselves into a big mess, but unlike the Bulls-game, the Raptors made key defensive stops late in the 4th that broke the Clippers’ back.

This was a game of runs and an entertaining one at that. It started with the both teams matching each other basket for basket. Bargnani was attacking Kaman off the dribble early, blowing by him from the perimeter and finishing at the rim. Kaman returned the favour in kind with some big play in the post, scoring 9pts and grabbing 2rebs (1 offensive), even dropping a ridiculous duck-under move that got me out of my seat (I love watching fancy post-play). A couple fadeaways to boot and Kaman was looking as refined as ever, despite having a “virus”.

That’s when it happened; the Clippers turned it on; with the game 15-13 Clips, Baron Davis stepped up, and started to attack. He hit Rasual Butler, who was curling off a screen, with a pass for an open J. Davis slashed to the rim and Camby hit him with a pass for the layup. He drew the double on a penetration and kicked out to DeAndre Jordan and boom, 8-0 Clippers run pushes their lead to 23-13. Raptor timeout.

The timeout didn’t help as the Clippers went on another run with Davis and Camby playing off of each other, pacing an 11-2 run to end the first quarter leading the Raps 34-17. Hedo was obviously hurting, wincing every time he took a breath, Bosh was attacking, but couldn’t hit any of his shots as the lengthier Camby was obviously bothering him. Calderon was doing okay, but Davis was playing like a Top-5 point guard (7pts 5ast). DeRozan was feeling the pressure to preform in front of his family/friends and it showed with a turnover and a horrible looking airball.

The quarter started like the first one ended, with Antoine Wright taking a stupid shot. For some reason, I still like the dude a lot, just wish he would never shoot another jumper again, ever. Kaman and a guy named Craig Smith and Steve Novak pushed the lead to 22 by attacking the paint and hitting wide open 3s, but things were a bit different this time. Our bench was really giving the Clippers some problems. Amir Johnson was more then a handful for Kaman in the paint; Belinelli was running around like a vulture looking for the right time to strike, and he struck with timely jumpers that kept this game from getting out of hand. All his shots felt like daggers and he’s got the facial expression which lets you know it.

Bosh entered the game 4 minutes in and went to work. With Camby on the bench, he hit a beauty of a half-hook over Smith, grabbed rebounds, and went to the line. He teamed up with Amir Johnson to literally take control of the paint on both ends. The two were boxing out and pulling down rebounds, attacking the offensive glass, drawing doubles that opened up some space for Belinelli who hit his dagger jumpers.

Belinelli and Johnson’s energy off the bench was the game changer. With Hedo hurt and Bargnani absolutely invisible, these too provided the inside/outside punch to disrupt the sweet spot the Clippers got into. Kaman had no answer for Johnson’s tenacity on the boards. He may have blocked him once or twice but Johnson didn’t care. The Raptors were +12 in the paint in the 2nd, and cut the lead to 54-45 at the half. Getting back to Amir for a second; our boy is fierce, and having him line up along side Bosh is a combination I want to see Triano play more often (as opposed to say Calderon and Jack teamed up in the backcourt which gets more burn for some reason).

The 3rd quarter started the like the 2nd ended, with the Raptors attacking. Bosh and Bargnani got the ball rolling, but it was spearheaded by Calderon who had 9pts and 3ast. Baron Davis had no answers as JC drove, dished and dissected the Clippers. The earlier abuse Calderon took was now being reversed towards the Baron. The Raptors started the quarter on a 6-1 run; then a 9-2 run to take their first lead at 65-64. In fact, it was bucket for bucket until the 4:26 mark of the 4th, with the Clippers up 89-88, and the Raptors fielding the lineup of Calderon/Belinelli/Wright/Bosh/Bargnani:

• Bargnani trails the play and hits a DEEP three point; 91-89 Raptors
• Calderon blocks Telfair on the 3pt (greatest defensive play of his career) after a great 24 seconds of team defense
• Wright draws a foul on the drive and hits both from the line, 93-89 Raps
• Bosh/Bargnani force Kaman to take a bad shot
• Calderon hands off the ball to Belinelli for an acrobatic 3, 96-89 Raps
• Bosh/Bargnani collapse on Kaman in the paint, forcing him to airball from 3ft
• Bargnani trails the play, and Calderon finds him for another deep three, 99-89 Raps
• Davis is pressure on the drive by a rotating Bargnani, misses the layup
• Calderon quickly pushes the ball and hits a layup, 101-89 Raps
• Davis misses from 28ft
• Bosh draws the double and kicks out to an open Jose for a trey, 104-89

Unlike the Bulls game, where the Raptors capitalized on poor Bulls shooting from the perimeter to win the game; the Raptors played great team defense, communicating and rotating like they’ve been here before. Then pushing back after the defensive stand to capitalize on a Clippers team that was playing on their heels.

The Four Factors to Winning

Shooting the Ball
The Raptors took and hit good shots. They attacked the paint, found the open shooter when bigs got doubled, but stuck shot after shot.
Raptors – 56.8%
Clippers – 50%

Taking Care of the Ball
86 possessions, 28 assists and only 9 turnovers. ‘Nuf said.
Raptors – 10.4%
Clippers -17.4%

Offensive Rebounding
The Clippers front court are big boys. Between the Raptors good shooting, and the length and size of Camby/Kaman, there wasn’t much for Bosh/Johnson to grab. Kaman was an animal on the offensive glass, and really had his way with Bargnani.
Raptors – 25%
Clippers – 31.5%

Getting to the Free Throw Line
No surprise that with the attacking nature of the Clippers, and the jump shooting nature of the Raptors, the Clippers had double the FT rate. It should be noted that Bosh went to the line more then the rest of the Raptors combined (8-7).
Raptors – 18.7%
Clippers - 38.5%

Player Impact

Belinelli was driving the bus, but it was the MVP calibre play of Bosh that made the difference. After a slow start, Bosh dropped 21pts 14rebs 6ast, that’s ridiculous. Check the live blog to get the feel for the game.

Whether the Raps are playing at home or on the road on Friday nights, RFF will be uniting the Raptors fan community and bringing together fellow hardcore “fan-addicts” like ourselves to create a rowdy ACC upper-bowl type crowd at SCC! And like we always do, we’ll be featuring our specialty Raptors Republic bar games and contests, while giving away drinks and prizes and having a whole lotta fun causing a Raptors fan-style ruckus!

This week the Raptors are playing their only Friday night West coast game of the season going up against the hard-luck Blake Griffin-less, the Baron Davis shot-chucking-mad, your good ol’ granddaddy’s ineptly dysfunctional… Los Angeles Clippers! (Sincerely, our hearts go out to our friends at ClipperBlog). So to go get things started for tonight’s game party, the first RFF challenge of the season is as follows: The first person who tells me to “Make Some Goddamn M*tha F***king LOUD CROWD NOISE!!!” will get a pitcher of my favorite beer! (BOH!)

Fun times with goood friends is what Raptor Fan Fridays is all about.

LET’S GO RAPS!! (BEAT THE CLIPS!!)

Today’s recap:

Pistons

• Signed Ben Gordon to a 5r/$55mil contract.
• Signed Charlie Villanueva to a 5yr/$35-$40mil contract.

Dumars saved face with the whole Michael Curry situation by making a massive splash on Day 1 of free agency. Did he pay too much for Gordon? Probably, but he got himself a youngin who can score in buckets, is tough as nails, and clutch. Also, he scooped up our boy CV31, and signed him to a GREAT deal. Are the Pistons championship contenders? No, but they have a nice young core of Rodney Stuckey, Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva, Jason Maxiel, Aaron Afflalo, Amir Johnson with the likes of Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. Not too bad.

Grade: B+ – Retooling quick, but at a price.

Grizzlies/Clippers

• Clipps exile Zach Randolph to the Grizz for Quentin Richardson and calmer nerves.

Can’t believe they actually found someone who will take Zach and that nasty attitude/contract off their hands, but they did. Clipps get rid of a cancer, save some money, and clear space for Griffin to become the #1 guy on the right block, all in one move. Memphis on the other hand just made Thabeet’s life much tougher protecting the paint.

Clippers Grade: A – Franchise moving in the right direction…finally.
Grizzlies Grade: D – WTF????

Lakers

• Ariza wants more then mid-level, I’d give it to him.

Is he worth it? Maybe. Is he going to walk? Probably. The Lakers need to keep Odom before giving Ariza the big bucks. One of the guys I would target if I were BC, a younger Marion.

Grade: D – You keep this guy, no questions.

Blazers

• Flirting with Hedu, I like the guy, but not for $60mil.

Not a good move, could just be smoke/mirrors. Khandor breaks this move down better then I could. On the bright side, this whole thing has Fernandez pissed off, giving most of us something to talk about, even though some other GM will probably pluck him out of the air if he becomes available.

Grade: D – I’d rather keep Rudy and bring in a Richard Hamilton type, that’s just me.