A Clippers' Game Experience, Bill Simmons-Style: Close, But Not Quite

First of all, let me just say the Clippers is a very bad team. They have some very good (maybe even great) players, but this is a very bad team.

OK, to be more accurate, this is a very bad organization. It starts at the top, with the owner, and it goes down the chain of command—the front office and the coaches.  People outside of Los Angeles have no idea, but this team is a total embarrassment for our city and for the NBA. 

Approximately zero people care about the Clippers, but this posting will give the readers some ideas of the state of this ballclub. Read on if you want to know. I will begin with my Clippers' game experience or my night of horror.

I had a ticket left from a package that I purchased, so I went to the game to see the Nets with Yi, Harris, and Carter.

I went to the ticket window and was informed that the 200 Level was sold out. I had to either take less than what I was promised or pay more to get the same.

In the end, I paid the seven extra dollars. I guessed Donald Sterling, who was still a multi-millionaire, really needed that cash, considering the economic crashed. 

I went in to look for my seat. It did not exist.

The attendant, Raymond M., tried to look for it too, but it just plain wasn't there.

Great! The Staples Center forced me to pay more money for a seat that did not exist.

Raymond M. called his supervisor for instruction. He suggested that, since there was room, he could add a chair for me. So I got to sit in a folding chair behind the backboard for $27?

Sure, it's not a lot of money, but I was not having the best time that I'd ever have at a basketball game, either.

Three Asian girls sat down next to me. One of them was actually pretty cute, but she had a very cheap ring on her ring finger.

Hint: She got hit on a lot and did not want to be bothered.

Anyway, these three girls knew absolutely nothing about basketball or what to do at a basketball game; they were total airheads. I slowly inched my chair away from them.  There is nothing more unattractive than stupidity, and I was glad when their two male friends got them to move over to sit with them.

Talking to Raymond M., he told me that those girls got their seats free because the Clippers got tax write-offs for passing out tickets without charging. I actually had heard this before, as I knew a community organization that got a free luxury box for Clippers game before. For those who doesn't know, a box at Staples costs over $100,000 per year. 

I looked up, and Carter had over 20 points at halftime. He ended up with 41 for the game.

I looked around and saw that there were a lot of empty seats in the 200 Level; had that guy in the box office lied to me? I did not know, but there were plenty of empty seats.

In fact, I have received an offer to purchase a 200 Level seat, that has a normal face value of $68, for $15 on Friday. This is simply how desperate the Clippers are for money!

Harris got hurt at the 8:52 mark in the third quarter. The Nets might have been in trouble if they were playing any other team, but the Clippers is a team that can blow double-digit lead to a bad team, despite that squad's best player missing.

It takes a lot to lose to the Clippers. It takes poor coaching, star failure, and repeated mistakes to lose to the Clippers--just look at the Celtics game. Wondered why Bill Simmons did not write an article about his experience at that classic game?

Fast forward to 5:35 left to play in the fourth quarter: Kaman made a two-point shot, putting the Clippers ahead, 100-89. 

At this point, I was trying to imagine how the Clippers were going to blow this one. In the past three games, they had blown double-figure leads at home against the Pacers without Granger and the Cavs with LeBron. I was sure this would simply be more of the same. 

The Clippers failed to score for almost four minutes. Carter completed the comeback by tying the score at 100 with two free throws.

The teams exchanged baskets. With 12 seconds left, Carter made a three-pointer, and the Nets were up by three, 105-102.

This should have be the final nail in the coffin.

An Asian man with a Staples Center ID was looking for someone. He had a Clippers jersey in his hand. He found the three Asian girls and talked to them for a bit.

The jersey was to be a gift for someone at the game. I noticed that there were more than a few people with jersey in their hands as they were leaving the game.

So the Clippers have sunk to giving out jerseys to buy good faith from the fans. Come to think of it, I recalled getting free tickets to game before. They were not great seats, but they costed me nothing.

The Clippers called a full timeout. 

The fans started to leave. They'd all seen these Clippers’ disasters too many times and knew what was coming.

Baron Davis drew a foul from Carter and made two free throws. Now L.A. trailed 105-104 with 0.07 left. New Jersey called a 20 second timeout.

Dumbleavy, as Simmons so affectionately called him, actually had a plan, and a pretty good one at that. With the team down one, they'd force the ball to the Nets' worst free-throw shooter on the floor and foul him.

Jarvis Hayes missed two free throws with 0:05 left.

Mike then drew up another good plan. B. Davis was to inbound the ball to Gordon, who would drive, causing the defense to collapse.

In a normal Clippers game, Gordon would have gotten fouled, missed the shot, and received no call.

But instead, something interesting happened. Gordon passed the ball back to B-Diddy.

Don't the Nets know the most dangerous guy in an inbounds play is the guy putting it in play from the sideline?

Again, in a normal Clippers game, Davis would have launched a shot up and missed, having been cold from the outside all night.

But something even more interesting happened. Baron did not shoot, but passed the ball to the hottest Clippers shooter of the night, Steve Novak, who sank a three-pointer with the clock running out. The team was ecstatic, and there was a big smile on the attendant’s face. 

The Clippers had won because they did not play like themselves.

After the game, Davis was asked about the problem with the team. He said that they had not been playing like a team and that there was no trust between the players.

On this night, the Clippers won because they did play like a team. They won because Gordon trusted Davis and Davis trusted Novak—it was a very non-Clippers-like night, indeed!

The Clippers may have hope yet...

Nah, they will simply start another losing streak.

Sorry, just the inner Clippers observer speaking out.

Looks like nobody wants to be a Clippers' fan, myself included.