The Clippers were outrebounded 50-30 and they were outscored 70-43 in the second half last night which explains the loss. Chris Kaman led the way for the Clippers last night with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Eric Gordon pitched in with 21 points and 4 assists last night. Rasual Butler had a decent game with 16 points and 5 rebounds. The Clippers are now 25-36 on the season.

The Clippers wanted the game more than the Jazz did last night and that is why they won. Eric Gordon led the way for the Clippers last night offensively with 24 points and 2 assists. Drew Gooden (19 points, 11 rebounds) and Chris Kaman (18 points, 14 rebounds and 3 assists) dominated the paint for the Clippers last night. Baron Davis did a good job of running the show last night with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 12 assists and 2 blocked shots. The Clippers are now 25-35 on the year.

The Clippers are expecting Steve Blake, Drew Gooden and Travis Outlaw to give them good minutes the rest of the year. Blake has played in 3 games (2 starts) for the Clippers so far this season and he is averaging 29.3 minutes, 5.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 9.3 assists and 1.0 steal per game. His problem has been his shooting so far as he is only hitting 35.7% of his shots from the floor for the Clippers. Drew Gooden made his Clippers’ debut last night working 28 minutes in which he scored 10 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and he stole the ball once. Travis Outlaw also made his debut last night for the Clippers as he played 16 minutes in which he scored 10 points and grabbed 1 rebound. Gooden & Outlaw helped the Clippers beat the Bobcats last night.

The Clippers got involved in a huge trade today with the Wizards and Cavs. They Clippers have acquired 28-year old power forward Drew Gooden from the Wizards in the deal. Antwan Jamison goes to Cleveland along with Sebastian Telfair from the Clippers. The Wizards get Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Cleveland’s first round pick in 2010 from the Cavs and they get Al Thornton from the Clippers. Gooden might get a lot of minutes that were going to Marcus Camby before he was traded to the Blazers earlier this week. Gooden has played in 46 games (11 starts) for the Mavericks this season and he was averaging 22.4 minutes, 8.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. Gooden has now played in 556 games (407 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 27.6 minutes, 11.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Gooden’s contract is up at the end of the season so this trade will clear a lot of cap space for the Clippers. Still, I don’t like the deal for them because Al Thornton is a solid young player that they might regret getting rid of. Thornton played in 51 games (30 starts) for the Clippers this season and he averaged 27.5 minutes, 10.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. In three years with the Clippers, Thornton played in 201 games (128 starts) in which he averaged 30.9 minutes, 13.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. The Clippers pretty much had to trade Thornton if they wanted to get rid of Sebastian Telfair’s contract so they did it. Sebastian Telfair played in 39 games (1 start) for the Clippers this season and he averaged 14.9 minutes, 4.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. The Clippers didn’t need Telfair anymore after acquiring Steve Blake in the Marcus Camby trade.

DeAndre Jordan and Craig Smith will likely see nice bumps in playing time due to the trade of Marcus Camby to the Blazers. Jordan has played in 40 games (6 starts) for the Clippers this season and he is averaging 12.4 minutes, 3.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.1 assists per game. He will likely be a better rebounder and defensive player than Craig Smith. Smith however is a much better offensive player than Jordan at this point in his career. Smith has played in 50 games (0 starts) for the Clippers this season and he is averaging 16.0 minutes, 7.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.