The Clippers again show why they are the most hapless franchise in the NBA. Tied at the half at 55, the Clippers allowed the Mavericks to take a double digit lead in the third quarter. They storm back with efforts from their bench and Chris Kaman to tie the game at 82. Then down the stretch, with 2 minutes to go they make 3 fatal errors.
First error is giving Dallas a 1 minute possession by not finishing the play and boxing out. Dallas took the clock from 2 minutes left to under a minute.
Secondly chasing 3 points, the Mavericks knock the ball out of bounds for a Clippers BLOB (Baseline out of bounds) with 3 seconds left on the shot clock. Jason Terry cheats the play and doesn't allow Eric Gordon to complete the screen the screener action (BLOB 1 was the play call) and Chris Kaman is forced to pop out to get the ball in. Only problem is Kaman doesn't know that there's 3 seconds left on the shot clock. Turn over. How does the bench not let the players on the floor know how many seconds are left on the clock? Inexcusable.
Last error, Dallas ball, between 35-40 seconds left, ball in Jason Kidd's hands down 5. This is simple game management by a coach, you are down 2 possessions, you cannot play defense for the entire clock and hope that you get a stop, you still need to score twice. Yes you would prefer to foul Shawn Marion, but out of the three players who are likely to handle the ball in that situation, Kidd, Terry or Nowitzki, Kidd is the worst free throw shooter of them. Force him to make a pair and extend the game. Instead the Clippers allow the Mavericks to run the clock down and Nowitzki hits a tough fadeaway to make it a three possession game. Poor game management by Mike Dunleavy.
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