After an impressive win against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night at the Staples Center, Blake Griffin and teammates are on a five-game road trip.By Tamara Latta
Sports Writer
After being unsuccessful on the road so far, the Los Angeles Clippers look to change things around on their current five-game road trip. With playoff ambitions already tarnished, they’re still playing with hope and confidence.     Â
They beat the Denver Nuggets in front of a sold-out crowd at the Staples Center on Saturday, 100-94. If they can play on the road with the intensity level with which they played against Denver last Saturday, they can win at least four or five games. This will be the first time the new team will be tested on the road with their new point guard, Mo Williams. He was acquired in a trade that sent Baron Davis to Cleveland last month. It isn’t taking Williams long to adapt to the Clippers style of play. The chemistry so far has been positive. He seemed to be jovial as I talked to him in the locker room, after the game, about his move to Los Angeles.
“I’m happy to be with the Clippers, and I will continue to work on building chemistry with my teammates,” Williams said. “So far, so good.”
While the Clippers have astonished elite teams in the East and West at home, they have yet to become a productive force playing on the road. The Clippers are 6—24 while away, but they will now have an opportunity to amend that. So far, they have won their first two games on their road trip.
Working on second-half woes will be the key to success for the team. If Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro can get his guys to keep up with the pace of the game in the third and fourth quarter, they will become a threat. Blake Griffin has already put his team on the map. His flashy dunks and monstrous highlight reel is selling out games at home and on the road. Griffin is transforming into a leader, which we had anticipated, but not this early. He’s still young with so much to learn, but with over 50double doubles at the age of 20, he’s making a statement as a rookie.
Eric Gordon is also a huge factor to the Clippers offensively and defensively. He rarely gets talked about anymore because of Griffin’s dominant presence. But lately Gordon has made the headlines because of an injured wrist.
After being absent for nearly three weeks, Gordon was in uniform to start in his second game since returning to the line-up. After playing only 14 minutes, he was forced to leave the game after driving to the hoop and re-aggravating his wrist. Hours later, it was reported that the X-rays were negative but he would be out indefinitely. This was bittersweet news to the organization. After the game, Gordon addressed his injury in the locker room.
“I would say the pain level isn’t as bad as it was, but it’s re-aggravated and it’s going to take some time,” Gordon said. “The big relief is that it’s not broken. With this type of injury, I really didn’t know what kind of timetable there would be when I first heard about it and how long it would take to get back. All I could do was see what kind of pain tolerance I could deal with and be able to play.”
