| Clippers Survive Game 1 Authored by Graham Flashner - April 23, 2006 - 4:31 am
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But, as Sam Cassell has so often pointed out, this Clippers team is different. Vladimir Radmonivic hit two free throws, the defense forced Carmelo Anthony into three tough misses, and the Clippers found themselves in a position they’ve never been in since moving to Los Angeles 22 years ago: leading a playoff series.
“They held serve,” said Denver coach George Karl.
But it was more than that. This was a win the Clippers needed to undo years of misery and trauma. Ron Harper had once likened playing for the Clippers as serving “jail time.”
They had last won a playoff game in 1993, defeating the Houston Rockets. They hadn’t been in the post-season since 1997, when they were swept by Utah. Their star player, Elton Brand, was making his playoff debut after 526 regular-season games, the seventh longest such streak in history. Six of his teammates were also making their playoff debuts.
Pressure? All Brand did was score 12 points in the first quarter, enabling the Clips to jump out to an early lead. And while he led the Clips with 21 points, it was his weak-side block on Anthony’s driving shot that preserved the Clipper lead late in the fourth. “I saw [Carmelo] coming down the lane, and I wanted to attack the ball and stop that shot,” said Brand.
While this playoff stuff may be new to the Clippers, it was old hat to the old pros, Sam Cassell and Cuttino Mobley. It was Cassell who broke a six-minute team scoring drought with a critical three-point shot after the Nuggets had whittled a 16-point lead down to 4.
“Sam’s leadership meant a lot,” said Brand. It’s great to have someone with that kind of poise.”
And it was Mobley who, with the help of double-teams, pressed Anthony into missing all eight of his shots in the fourth quarter.
“Got to give the Clippers credit, but we missed a lot of shots we normally make. We need everyone to step up,” said Anthony.
The Clippers led by 16 in the third quarter, and by 10 with 4:08 to go in the fourth, squandering both leads. Even if his players seemed to suggest otherwise, Coach Mike Dunleavy refused to blame playoff inexperience, citing bad bounces, rebounds slipping out of hands, and aggressive Denver defense.
"The only part of tonight's game that the guys didn't know about was that the officials don't blow a lot of whistles," Dunleavy said. "The guys expected to get a few calls they didn't get."
The Nuggets felt the same way, with both Karl and Anthony insisting that ‘Melo was fouled on one of his last misses.
“We were disappointed cause we let the lead slip away,” said Brand. “They out-scrapped us.”
"Down 16 and wobbling, they never quit," said Karl. "I just wish we could have gotten the lead. My team played with a lot of heart, a lot of courage. I think you win a lot of games like that in the playoffs."
Denver, though, has a problem. Only two players – Anthony and Andre Miller (25 points each) scored in double figures. They shot only 38%, were unable to spread the defense with perimeter shooting, and relied too heavily on Anthony on every big possession down the stretch. Earl Boykins (2-8, 6 points) was clearly rusty after a two-week layoff, and Kenyon Martin (4-11, 9 points) is playing on battered knees.
“We’d like to play at a faster pace,” Karl lamented.
It would appear that the Nuggets’ lack of offensive firepower plays right into the Clippers’ hands, and that they simply don’t have enough weapons to counter the Clippers inside-out tandem of Brand, Chris Kaman (15 points, 13 rebounds), Cassell, and Mobley.
But then again, that’s what adjustments are for.
“Game 2,” said Dunleavy, “is where the home team is most vulnerable.” |
