| Mobley: Clippers Lack Identity Authored by Graham Flashner - January 8, 2008 - 2:46 pm
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In their latest tease, Sunday afternoon at Staples Center, they held the mighty San Antonio Spurs to 40% shooting, and forced them into 3-17 from three-point land. Chris Kaman (20 points, 14 rebounds) battled Tim Duncan (17/17) to a draw. The Clippers led by ten in the second quarter, avoided their usual third-quarter fold, and even seized a one-point lead with five-and-a-half minutes remaining in the game.
Then the Spurs, who had spent most of the game playing like the .500 road team they’ve inexplicably become, woke up, made the plays that counted, and pulled away for an 88-82 victory.
Afterward, a weary-looking Mike Dunleavy groped for positives, praising the defensive intensity, rookie Al Thornton’s steady progress, and the spirited couple of practices that almost spurred the Clippers on to a major upset.
Players like Kaman and Corey Maggette spoke of the need to keep fighting, of their energetic play against the Spurs, of hope in the future for a beat-up team whose starting lineup has become a nightly guessing game.
But Cuttino Mobley, standing in a nearly empty locker room, wasn’t buying it. “I don't think we mix well together right now," Mobley said. "If the first play doesn't work, we don't know what we're doing. It's not good. At the beginning of season, you knew who was going to close games out and what we were supposed to do. Now, it's like scattered. We need an identity.”
Mobley acknowledged that injuries and undefined roles had left the team devoid of the kind of rhythm and chemistry that builds with a team that plays together every day. “Us, there’s different guys starting every day,” said Mobley, who also admitted to not feeling “comfortable” on the court.
Sounding almost envious, he cited the Spurs as a prime example of everything the Clippers are not at the moment.
“The Spurs have chemistry,” Mobley noted. “If they're not going to Parker, they're going to Ginobili, if not Ginobili, then Duncan. And the other guys fit in.”
Good teams have one or two leaders that teammates count on to close games. With Elton Brand sidelined, Sam Cassell consistently hurt, and Kaman still too young, the Clippers, losers of 21 of 27, appear leaderless at the moment, undermanned and outfinessed at every turn. They have gotten sparkling play from Kaman and, at times, from Maggette, the improving Thornton, and even guard Brevin Knight. But when crunch time came Sunday, they forced shots and couldn’t stop the Spurs when it counted.
Continuing his unsparing analysis, Mobley said that, at the beginning of the season, he hoped to become that leader the Clippers could look to, event though he admitted that “I’m not really a chief.” Other factors, however, proved too difficult to overcome. “Getting hurt, and playing sub par… you lose that mojo. Your team drifts away from you,” Mobley conceded.
Just as this season has drifted away from the Clippers. |
