At the Game — Blog Train — BASKETBALLIN . NET

Two weeks ago, we arrived in Los Angeles several hours prior to the game with Boss Man — our boss for our for real work that pays the bills. In case you did not know, this here blog is just for fun. A dream that we have always had.

F O L L O W Y O U R D R E A M Z

Boss Man now resides in beautiful San Diego, a brief stop on our West Coast swing, so we rented a car and drove up to LA while he did some work on the iPad. Navigating the dreaded LA traffic was a breeze with our Chrysler 300’s ventilated front seat feature that sends out cool air to your lower back. It is even more glorious than it sounds. 10 out of 10 would recommend. With a lot of time to kill before the game, we decided we had better get a drank, and we landed at Tom’s Urban directly across the street from Staples.

Boss Man stated: “Wow, there are a lot of 10’s in here.”

“Yeah, bro. It’s LA.”

Boss Man nodded and continued to watch the random music videos that were shown on a few select TVs. We watched a little college basketball but definitely more so enjoyed the vastly underrated collegiate women’s volleyball.

Boss Man is not a Big NBA Guy or even a Sports Guy at all, really. But that’s okay, because Boss Man copped these VIP tickets for a little employee appreciation and he was still excited to see Kawhi and Harden, two of the five players that he actually knows. Boss Man was also very excited to watch Lakers-Bucks, the first game of the TNT double-header that proceeded our Rockets-Clippers affair. Still at Tom’s Urban for the Lakers-Bucks tip-off, we took note of the Lakers fans in the house, but there were not as many as we would have thought. Still more Kobe jerseys than anything else, though.

After the first quarter of Lakers-Bucks, the Bucks were crushin’ and it was time for us to head on over to Staples Center. The doors open 2 hours before tip-off for VIPs. Shoutout to Google for letting us know that one.

Once we made it in, we were ecstatic to find that the Clippers were rockin’ their glorious City Edition jerseys with the GTA Old English font, because of course they were. We were there after all. This is just how things go for us.

We took a lap and got to see Kawhi warming up, draining jumpers in his usual spots, and we saw an Adam Silver look-a-like that might or might not have actually been Adam Silver.

Adam Silver, that you?

We ultimately landed at the main VIP bar as the first arrivals. We had a long night ahead, having to drive back to San Diego after the game, so it was a bit too early for Tito’s. Luckily, they did have a refreshing cider and the Lakers-Bucks game was on all of the TVs, of course. We asked our bartender, “Lakers or Clippers?” Louie replied, “Lakers all the way!” We asked if he had any good Staples Center stories for us. Louie said that he did not, but that we should ask “the tall guy over there” because he has worked at Staples since it opened 20 years ago. We unfortunately did not get a chance to ask Tallboy, but we sure will next time.

While we sat at the bar and watched the early game, the buzz of the building was gradually growing in stature behind us. On the TV in front of us, the Bucks were stomping the Lakers. Giannis was flexing and draining threes!? Yep. The Freak, the MVP, was 5 of 7 from three. Our eyeballs were bulging. It was time to head to our seats for warmups.

We nestled into our seats in the Premier 4 section, in the second lower level up behind the Clippers bench. Harden was joking around, hoisting half court shots on the other side. The beard was looking good.

Intros commenced and we told Boss Man, “It’s about to get lit.” We were referencing the fire that shoots up from behind the goals during the intro, but the Clippers opening video that started seconds later was really fucking LIT.

“I got, I got, I got, I got — loyalty. LOYALTY. Inside my DNA.”

L O Y A L T Y

It was Kendrick Lamar’s “DNA” from his Grammy award-winning album DAMN. “DNA” was blasting and it was edited to keep cutting back to and emphasizing “LOYALTY” as the video showed Kawhi and Paul George, returning home to Southern California, and Patrick Beverly, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, the heart and soul of the post Lob City Clippers.

L O Y A L T Y

The fire blazed up and Staples was absolutely LIT in the actual sense of the word.

LIT.

The game tipped off shortly after, smoke still hovering above, and we were off.

The first thing that stood out in a very striking way was the very first thing that we looked for: the matchups. The Clippers started the game with Patrick Beverly on Harden and Mo Harkless on Westbrook. Talk about a luxury! To have your two best players, Kawhi and PG, two of the very best defenders in the league, not even have to guard the opposing team’s two best players until later on. Not to mention having your third and fourth leading scorers coming off the bench to ravage second units. The Clippers are the only team in the NBA this season with four players averaging more than 19 points per game: Kawhi, PG, Sweet Lou and Trez. The Clippers biggest strength is their depth — their rock solid foundation.

The first thing that stood out for Boss Man was Doc. “Who is that!? Oh my god, is that the guy from that one meme!?” Boss Man pulled out his phone to show us:

We chuckled. “Oh yeah, that’s Doc Rivers! The Clippers head coach.”

Boss Man snapped a zoomed in pic of real life Doc and texted it to his brother who responded that he had no idea who it was. Naturally, Boss Man just sent back the Doc meme.

The first quarter was back and forth, a little bit sloppy to start. The Clippers sent several double teams at Harden who dished out three assists from them. Shout out Ben McLemore who went from being practically out of the league entirely, to being a big contributor on a contender, knocking down two quick three-pointers. The Rockets had an early lead, but the Clippers answered with a 12-0 run, making 6 of 8 threes in the first quarter to hold a narrow 28-27 lead after the first frame.

The Clippers dominated the second quarter, outscoring the Rockets 41 to 27. Paul George was snappin’ threes, Montrezl Harrell was beastin’ down low, and the Clippers were containing Harden. We will admit to being slightly worried that we might be in store for a snoozer of a blowout. However, things got a little chippy just before halftime (a double tech was assessed to Beverly and McLemore) which gave us hope that the Rockets were not going to roll over.

Sure enough, the third quarter was an entirely different story. The Rockets became the aggressors, attacking the basket while the Clippers mostly settled for contested jumpers. Harden finally got going, finding Capela for easy dunks, hitting a couple step-back threes and flashing nifty handles with quick crossovers and misdirections. Westbrook stormed the paint with reckless abandon. Russ even hit a three! Russ was everywhere — relentless in his pursuit in front of his home town crowd — a man on a mission. The Clippers lead evaporated. It was the Rockets who were up 90 to 87 entering the 4th quarter after besting the Clippers by 18 points in the 3rd quarter.

Out of nowhere in the 3rd quarter, we heard “VODKA!!!” shouted in our direction. The usher/waitress arrived with our Tito’s and sodas that were passed down the row to us. VIP, not too shabby.

Not even a minute into the 4th quarter, the intensity inside Staples Center was cranked ALL the way up. It was not just the Tito’s hittin’ — Lou Williams was called for a foul on Westbrook who was shooting a three. Sweet Lou appeared to get all ball, which was certainly how he felt about it, as he yelled at the refs and was held back by his coaches, earning a tech. Not so sweet in this instance, Williams’ incessant barking continued. A second technical foul was called and Not So Sweet Lou was ejected from the ballgame. His first two technical fouls of the season.

Just a few minutes later, Russ fired up and made an early shot clock three-pointer off a Capela screen on Beverly. Westbrook’s second three of the game gave the Rockets a 101-89 lead — a full 180 from halftime. Now we needed the Clippers to come back to make it a game with 9 minutes left.

That’s when Landry Shamet drilled a corner three and was fouled by Westbrook for a four-point play. The next Clippers possession, Shamet swished another three! Then a dunk by Trez was followed by a Pat Bev three and then Paul George hit another three! Just like that, the Clippers were back on top 104-103. Staples was getting litty. We had a ballgame!

The Clippers lead increased to 6 with five minutes remaining after PG drilled another above the break three and Kawhi cashed in a midrange pull-up jumper in P.J. Tucker’s eyeballs. The Clippers were on 22-4 run. Now we needed the Rockets to come back again.

Right on cue, the Rockets got hot:

Harden danced with PG for a moment before lunging back and launching a step-back 3 that found nothing but the bottom of the net.
Russ attacked the basket full steam ahead, making a driving layup while being fouled by Shamet and falling to the ground. And 1. Tie game.

The Clippers went ice cold:

Pet Bev missed a wide open corner three.
PG missed a wide open above the break three.
Pat Bev fouled out on a reach-in on Tucker. Russ waived goodbye to his good friend, talked some trash and was hit with a technical. Harden was not happy with Russ and even pushed him back a little. Beverly was screaming back at Russ and got hit with a technical as well, so he was also ejected. Two ejections! Doc was furious.

Harden was in a rhythm now, draining another step-back 3, this time after a pump fake on Shamet gave The Beard all the room he needed. And Russ could smell blood, his motor running as fast as ever.

A Harden lob to Capela for the alley-oop all but sealed it with over two minutes left — the Clippers only scored 4 points in the final four minutes.

Rockets 122, Clippers 117.

Not all was lost for Clippers fans, however. Harden missed a pair of free throws in the 4th quarter which granted a free Chick-fil-A sandwich for every one in attendance. Everybody, especially Clippers fans, rejoiced. Boss Man said that they should have a chicken sandwich launcher on hand, ready to chuck the sandwiches right then and there.

There was no chicken sandwich launcher, but we got to see a great mid-December game on a random Thursday night. It was back and forth. It was intense.

It really was LIT.

We love this game!