Heading into the postseason, head coach Vinny Del Negro and the Los Angeles Clippers must address whether DeAndre Jordan or Lamar Odom is the team’s crunch-time big.
Although Jordan starts games for the Clips, he routinely finds himself on the bench in the fourth quarter.
A combination of poor decision-making and miserable free-throw shooting has kept DJ on the pine. Although Odom is more of a cerebral and versatile player, he lacks the explosiveness and rim protection that Jordan offers.
Neither big is ideal, but Del Negro must make a decision soon and stick with it. Adding reps for either big in the final dozen games of the season will be key.
In close games, the Clippers tend to work with a lineup of Chris Paul, Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes, Blake Griffin and Odom.
Despite boasting an above-average PER of 17.00, Jordan finds himself on the bench in place of Odom and his sub-par PER of 10.24.
Per NBA.com, Odom has logged 522 fourth-quarter minutes this season, a full 400 more than DJ.
Although many of those minutes have come in blowout Clipper victories, th ...
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Article written by Oren Friedman
Biggest Issue L.A. Clippers Must Solve Before the Start of NBA Playoffs
March 26th, 2013 by Oren Friedman Leave a reply »
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