Aside from Blake Griffin commanding the wind with a hurricane that left souls bare, the Los Angeles Clippers exhibited some awful, bewildering defense. In 7SoM: Webisode 27, I look at what the Knicks did to exploit the Clips offensively.
The Clippers are the second worst defensive team in the league, giving up the fourth highest field goal percentage at the rim and the highest effective field goal percentage from three. Sometimes I wonder how those stats translate to the game but Saturday's game proved why they rank so poorly in said categories.
The team's ball movement is becoming more and more promising. Raymond Felton is being himself these days, by that I mean, he's looking to score more instead of forcing himself to be a distributor. He'll still get his assists by nature of handling the ball so much, but not in the PnR way we all assumed he would. But that's fine because it's working.
Danilo Gallinari is the bigger story. He's no longer hesitating after receiving a pass or dribbling off a screen. He's either up with his shot or moving it for something better. Before he was waiting and forcing anyway. And he's recognizing cutting/fastbreak lanes in ways I haven't seen him do before. There's legit aggression in his game now instead of the emo aggression that sometimes gets the best of him.
Finishing 3-1 on a five-day road trip is nothing to take lightly for a team this inconsistent. So let's all enjoy it for another day. They're gearing up for a home-and-home against the Bobcats starting Tuesday. I expect Felton to have a little something extra for his former team, like extra daps and stuff.