Bleak against the Blakers
I blame Mike Baldwin. If he hadn’t brought up that silly Clippers Curse business in this morning’s paper, we might never have seen this little debacle, in which the Thunder was downright flat for the first 25 minutes or so, fought back to even it up and even take a one-point lead, only to see Baron Davis hit a trey with 43 seconds left and ice the game. And Blake Griffin, who won’t be seen here at all this season, didn’t have a thing to do with it. The Clippers won 101-93, payback for their loss at the Staples Center last week.
The Clips certainly didn’t play like they were cursed: they hit 48 percent of their shots, and Davis, Chris Kaman and Al Thornton all chalked up 20 points or more. Kareem Rush, hitherto unseen this season, put in 29 minutes, scored 9 and blocked two shots, one more than the entire Oklahoma City squad.
In fact, most of the Thunder numbers were not good, including a meager 39 percent from the floor and only 17 assists. Kevin Durant, in the midst of all this, somehow managed to score 40, and Russell Westbrook, more or less inert in the first half, plunked down 17, but really, OKC had only one good quarter: the third, in which they outscored Los Angeles 35-26.
So this makes two years in a row where the Clippers sweep at the Ford. (We play them only three times this year; the last will be in L.A. in March.) And the Thunder drop to 5-5. Then again, last year the fifth loss came in game 6.
This Florida trip is going to be tough, and the Magic, whom we thumped when they were here, will be at something closer to full strength.
