NBA Recap 03/05: Los Angeles Clippers @ Minnesota Timberwolves

L.A. Clippers at Minnesota								Advanced Stats		4 Factors
Teams	1	2	3	4	T			PACE	Offense	EFG%	TOR	ORR	FTR
LAC	16	28	21	29	94			86.38	108.70	0.43	7.54	35.56	25.00
MIN	26	19	30	20	95				110.10	0.47	11.55	28.00	25.00

LA Clippers Shots Location:

Op At Rim			Op 3-9 Feet			Op 10-15 Feet			Op 16-23 Feet			Op Threes
FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%
16	26	0.62	2	5	0.40	5	9	0.56	6	21	0.29	5	23	0.33

Minnesota Shots Location:

At Rim			3-9 Feet			10-15 Feet			16-23 Feet			Threes
FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%	FGM	FGA	eFG%
10	16	0.63	5	11	0.46	1	2	0.50	5	23	0.22	11	28	0.59

First of all, it's important to say that both teams weren't in similar spots, so we can't take a lot of conclusion given the circumstances. We are talking about a team with 1 day off to rest (Minnesota) against a team who was playing their 4th game in 5 days, coming from a game in the previous game that had gone to overtime (LA Clippers).

However, it was also clear that the Clippers had some serious holes on the offensive end right now, something weird considering we are talking about the 5th most efficient offense in the league. With their outcome of just 15 assists last night, the Clippers had just 13, 17 and 15 assists in their last 3 games. We can consider this as a stagnant offense because CP3 has to create everything for the sake of their offensive flow, otherwise the team just can't move the ball.

Besides that, Butler is now in a major slump and his lack of confidence is visible on his body language. When we combine this bad offense with tired legs, then you have 6-21 FG from 16-23 feet and 5-23 3pts! Billups can't be the excuse for all the problems of the Clippers and this shows what I've always thought about their coach Vinny Del Negro: average at best! On the other side, the Clippers are and will be for the rest of the season a rebounding machine. Their rebounding rate has been impressive since Kenyon Martin joined the team and in the playoffs, a great rebounding team playing in slow paced games with CP3 dictating the offense will always be a dangerous team, but I really don't like their offensive flow right now.

There is a world of difference between coaches Del Negro and Adelman. The truth is that Adelman is making one hell of a job in combining a weird collection of players and giving some continuity between their units. If you think about it, just look at their starting lineup of last night: Rubio - Ridnour - Wesley Johnson- Love - Milicic! Aside from Love, we are talking about 4 limited players on the offensive end and still the Wolves outscored the Clippers by 26-16 in the first quarter, as Love scored 16 points during that quarter. Pekovic didn't play due to injury and he has been their second best player for some time. Without him, the Wolves didn't have their usual tough guy down low and no wonder Minnesota only shot 10-16 FG at the rim, but luckily they had a good game from the outside with 11-28 3pts, as at halftime the Wolves had just 8 points scored in the paint!

The biggest problem for this team is their inexperience, as they fouled a 3pts shooter twice down the stretch and if CP3 didn't miss one FT, then the game would have likely gone to overtime. Kevin Love is leading the team by example and for me, only Lebron James and Kevind Durant are having a better season than him. Watch out for this Wolves team because if you don't play hard against them, you'll be in deep trouble!