LA Clippers Welcome Lamar Odom


July 3rd, 2012
Lamar Odom Los Angeles Clippers

Lamar Odom Los Angeles Clippers

Lamar Odom, one of the most sympathetic but enigmatic characters in L.A. sports history, returns to team with which he started his NBA career. It might be amazing, it might go bad, or it could be just simple strange.

With Mo Williams finally deciding Friday to exercise his $8.5-million contract option, the Clippers and Dallas Mavericks were able to agree to a four-team trade that will bring Lamar Odom (32) back to the Clippers team that drew up him in 1999.

Odom will earn $8 million for the 2012-13 season, but the Mavericks could have bought out his contract for $2.4 million by Friday if Dallas didn’t find willing trade partners in L.A. and the Utah Jazz.
In December 2011, Odom was traded from the Lakers to the Mavericks, though he was dropped just several months later after he failed to perform.

Staying in Los Angeles will mean a lot more than a career boost and extra family time for the NBA forward — it also means that he and Kardashian, 28, will be able to make starting a family of their own a top priority. The Clippers had some trepidation about getting Lamar, because of his awful season and seemingly disinterested attitude in Dallas last season after he demanded a trade from the LA Lakers, who tried to move him in an attempt to land point guard Chris Paul.

However the Clippers had any worries allayed after Coach Vinny Del Negro and President Andy Roeser both met with Odom on Thursday at the team’s practice facility in Playa Vista.
Like many Clippers fans, seeing Odom for the first time was an experience – it was just like love at first sight. He played every position and no position, all at the same time. He sailed around the court effortlessly, never showing up out of place. Odom was tall and athletic and qualified, but most significantly, he was smooth. He was cool without even trying – a state every 14-year-old desperately tries (and fails) to achieve.

This is a fantastic trade for the LA Clippers, who need to strengthen their bench depth to make a much deeper run in the playoffs next year. Odom should really be satisfied to be back in Los Angeles, even if it’s not with the Lakers. Odom’s past playoff results will be a valuable addition to a young Clippers team that has minor championship experience.

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Posted in Dallas Mavericks, Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, NBA, Utah Jazz | (0) Comments »
By Chris Cabrera
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LA Clippers Returning to Playoffs for First Time Since 2006


April 19th, 2012
Los Angeles Clippers Offical Partner Barrys Ticket Service

Los Angeles Clippers Offical Partner Barrys Ticket Service

The second-longest active postseason drought is over. The Clippers are officially in the NBA playoffs this year. They had more than just making the NBA playoffs on their minds after defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder Monday night,

Monday night’s heavyweight Western Conference bout ending in a surprising manner, as the LA Clippers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 92-77. The game locked up Lob City’s postseason bid, marking the first time the Clippers have made the playoffs since 2006.

Los Angeles was lead by Blake Griffin who had 17 points and 11 rebounds, but got some serious support from Nick Young off the bench who went for 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 3-of-4 from downtown.

The real turning point in the game came in the 3rd quarter where L.A. topped Oklahoma 23 to 14. Durant mustered 24 points, but James Hardin only had 12 while Russell Westbrook only managed nine points to go along with five turnovers.

The L.A. faithful were in attendance to celebrate their playoff qualifying night as the franchise enjoyed their 32nd consecutive sellout crowd.

There was a time, for example, the bulk of the team’s existence that simply making the NBA playoffs would have been the most a Clippers fan would dare to expect from a team that has finished with a record above .

The Clippers’ 2005-06 playoff appearance represents the only time they’ve won a playoff series while playing in Los Angeles, and even then they didn’t get beyond the second round.
The playoff berth was actually sealed in the first half when the Houston Rockets lost to the Denver Nuggets, but give the Clippers some style points for the win over the Thunder.

The Clippers rank first in the league in points per possession (PPP) on shots the ballhandler takes in the pick-and-roll, while Paul ranks sixth among all players. Point being, if Paul gets a favorable switch or the space to operate coming off a screen, he’s one of the best point producers in the league.

To properly blow up a pick-and-roll, you need to have mobile, intelligent big men. The Lakers are a perfect example of this. Pau Gasol is one of the best in the business at showing hard on a screen, then recovering properly. He’s a big reason the Lakers rank 9th in pick-and-roll ballhandler defense, even with the molasses-like duo of Derek Fisher and Steve Blake covering the ball most of the year.

Although they probably won’t meet in the first round, offensively the Clippers would love a matchup against the San Antonio Spurs, who rank as the league’s worst defensive team in PPP allowed to ballhandlers in the pick-and-roll. The Spurs have immobile bigs and lack the ability to switch their bigs on to guards — a huge reason why the previous meetings between these two teams have been so high scoring.

The Denver Nuggets would be another favorable matchup, as they check in as the 20th best team in spot-up PPP, and 23rd in 3-point percentage. However, both the Grizzlies and Nuggets pale in comparison to one of the best matchups for the Clippers and one of the worst shooting teams in the league — the Utah Jazz. The Jazz are 28th in the league in spot-up opportunities and 29th in 3-point shooting at a woeful 30.7 percent, which is almost ten percentage points lower than the first place Spurs. The Jazz are on the outside looking in at this point, but the Clippers would love to somehow see them in the first round.

The NBA playoffs begin April 28. The Clippers will play four of their remaining five games on the road, including visits to Denver, Phoenix and Atlanta before closing out the regular season April 25 in New York.

Barrys Ticket is an offical partner of the Los Angeles Clippers. We stock all Clippers Playoff Tickets for both home and away games and have the largest inventory on the web of Clippers Tickets. Barrys Tickets offers great prices as well as great service.

You can purchase your Clippers Playoff Tickets on the web twenty four hours a day, or visit one of our three Los Angeles Locations including one right next to the Staples Center.

Barry’s Ticket Service
1020 S. Figueroa, Los Angeles, CA 90015
(across from the Staples Center inside the Luxe City Center)
Open 7 days a week, 10am – 9pm, for pickups.
(888)749-8499

Barrys Tickets is your Clippers Playoff head quarters.

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Posted in Clippers Playoff Tickets, Clippers Vs Grizzlies, Clippers Vs Lakers, Clippers Vs Nuggets, Clippers Vs Spurs, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Clippers, NBA, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, STAPLES Center, Utah Jazz | (0) Comments »
By Chris Cabrera
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Recap: NBA All-Star Saturday Night


February 27th, 2012

Recap: NBA All-Star Saturday Night

NBA All-Star game is the biggest event of All-Star Weekend, but as we all know, some of the best competitions and sneaker surprises happen on NBA All-Star Saturday Night.
On the docket was the Haier Shooting Stars, Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Footlocker 3-Point Shooting Contest, and the crowd favorite Sprite Slam Dunk Contest.
The night seemed to evaporate rather quickly, as is the weekend, and it will be back to business much too soon for most of us here in Orlando for the festivities.
Here are the results from the four events:

1. Haier Shooting Stars Winner: Team New York
With a time of 37.3 seconds in the final round Team New York Knicks defeated Team Houston’s (Chandler Parsons, Kenny Smith & Sophia Young) time of 47.6 seconds. The competition is far from the best of the evening but it does provide some interest watching players hoist up half court shots to closeout their attempt. It also incorporates a female from the WNBA on each team which brings that league a tad bit more attention. Team New York had the two fastest times of the night and Houston said the trio had practiced “a little bit”.

2. Taco Bell Skills Challenge Winner: Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs
Parker won the skills challenge with a time of 32.8 seconds in the final round defeating Rajon Rondo (34.6 seconds) and defending champion, Deron Williams (41.4 seconds). Rondo probably could have gotten the W if his bounce passes didn’t continue to rattle in and out. It took him 4 attempts to complete that challenge and was inevitably his downfall. Parker has competed in the competition twice previously and was at ease coming in he said the following afterwards.

3. Foot Locker 3-Point Contest Winner: Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves
Love squeaked into the finals and then pulled an upset win over Kevin Durant and defending champion James Jones. Love survived 2 overtimes or shootouts to take home the title with 17 points in the final shootout.
Love certainly wasn’t the favorite as “Bigs” don’t usually do well in the competition. James Jones had the competition high 22 in the first round and certainly looked like he was primed to repeat. He just got cold and was unable to keep up with Love and Durant.

4. Sprite Slam Dunk Contest Winner: Jeremy Evans, Utah Jazz
Evans might be the happiest player at All-Star weekend capturing 29% of the (reported) 3 million votes for the contest. (I would really like to see that tally) Just being given the opportunity to attend the event would have been enough for the humble forward but winning it might just make a difference in his play the rest of the season. He is that appreciative.

Remember he was a last minute replacement for Iman Shumpert.

Unfortunately his win is mired in the dubious distinction that the event field was more boring than vanilla.

Paul George had two of the better dunks of the evening but lamented that the competition does indeed lack star power. The dunk contest needs the league’s “faces” he said, mentioning (Miami Heat) LeBron, (Chicago Bulls) Rose, even Westbrook by name.

Evans did have the most original dunk of the night and it probably carried him to the win. He jumped over a seated Gordon Hayward then caught and dunked two balls thrown in the air by Hayward.

Unfortunately, the humility of Evans was not enough to save the lackluster evening. The NBA will have to look at ways of keeping the format fresh and potentially getting bigger names to commit to the event in the future.

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Posted in Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA, NBA All Star Rookie Challenge, NBA All Star Slam Dunk Contest, NBA All-Star Game, New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz | (0) Comments »
By Chris Cabrera
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