“Today our guards and our bigs did a pretty good job of taking them out of the game. We started the game the right way, and that helped”. Toronto took control of the game with a 15-7 run capped by a 3-pointer by DeMarre Carroll to give his team a 91-75 lead. Their record is below.500, and they’ve lost five of their last seven games.
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“This whole road trip was tough, losing games that we know we should have won”, DeMar DeRozan said, citing blown leads in Sacramento and Utah. “I thought it really hurt us”. But with frustrations mounting, especially after blowing a 20-plus point lead to the Warriors, it probably wasn’t pretty in that locker room.
Scott had previously told Bill Oram of the OC Register during a preseason interview that he “felt bad” about playing Bryant as many minutes as he did a year ago and that he would “stick to his guns” to keep from repeating that mistake.
Loud shouting and expletives could be heard through the walls at Staples Center; the site of the altercation being (you guessed it) the home locker room.
“I think at times you’ve got to leave him alone and at other times you have to talk with him”.
Terrence Ross, who signed a three-year, $33 million contract extension with Toronto on November 2, had eight points in 14 minutes after missing six games because of a sprained ligament in his left thumb. The Raptors turned inward, as they often have this season, forcing isolation to the tune of eight total points in the frame. Based on this, Russell will see his points, field goal percentage, assists and maybe even minutes increase once he gets his confidence up and starts attacking at the National Basketball Association level. It didn’t matter. Such is the state of this year’s Clippers team, one that came into the season locked and loaded to compete for a title again after significantly upgrading their bench with the addition of Paul Pierce, Lance Stephenson, Josh Smith and Wesley Johnson. Toronto dominated all facets of the game in the first half jumping out to an enormous 63-34 lead at the break. But he was 0 for 5 the rest of the way. “That’s why at halftime I went a little insane because I knew what was going to happen”. “He had a few open looks. He’s a good shooter, he works hard at it in practice”. Blake Griffin was scoreless and Chris Paul had two points. The Raptors missed their first nine shots in the fourth quarter.
The blame for this recent stretch of games lies squarely on the team’s sense of urgency, or perhaps lack thereof.
They couldn’t buy a shot (37.2%) or drain a three (23.5%), so the Raps continued their efficient free throw prowess on Sunday. The rookie finished with 17 points on 7-16 shooting and 3-7 shooting from deep and added five boards, two assists, a steal, and a block.
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Doc Rivers may not have been the coach involved in this particular kerfuffle, but as a hybrid coach/GM, he’s at least partially to blame for the Clippers’ slump.
