A friend of mine had tickets, so I went to this game last night. It was one of the best games I've seen in a long time. It was a double ot victory for the Clippers. They kind of reminded me of the way the Rockets sometimes would play games. Elton Brand started off hot, and early by the 4th quarter he had 29 points. Like Rockets teams of old our star who started off well ended up being shut out. Brand didn't score again for the rest of the 4th and both over time periods. The play against Shaq was great to watch. Kayman opened the game shooting over Shaquille for 2, then played some decent defense until he was forced to sit out with fouls. Rebraca came in, and Shaq started heating up and Rebraca got some fouls and sat down. Then their 3rd string center Moore came in was ineffective against Shaq. Finally Kayman came back, and tried to do too much dribbling. He had the ball stolen, and traveled on another possession. Later though he had a sweet drive around Shaq and scored a reverse. The crowd went nuts. The 4th string Center N'diaye came in and tried to body Shaq a lot, and Shaq got mad and slammed over him. N'diaye never gave up and tried real hard, but it was to no avail. Finally in OT with both Rebraca, and Kayman having fouled out, and Moore showing he wasn't able to do anything N'diaye got the call. First he had a weak side block on someone else that looked like an easy bucket for the Heat. Then he played Shaq straight up, and got a block on Shaq. He also swatted away an inbounds pass attempt to Shaq at the end of the first OT It was very exciting. N'dyiae's teammates were loving it, and I felt good since N'diaye was one of Hakeem's tutoring projects near the end of his career. Magette came on strong at the end. The guy had no fear of Shaq or anyone else. It looked like the Heat might win in the second over time when Magette scored to tie it. Then with 2.7 seconds left Magette shoots a quick turn around as he's falling out of bounds and the Clippers one. The game was great. Clipper fans, however were as lame as I've ever seen. A ton left after the end of regulation? Why would they leave before overtime on a Friday night? Then another large chunk left at the end of the first OT. They also applauded Shaq hardily at his intro, then booed him every time he touched the ball at the beginning of the game. They then booed while he was shooting FT's but cheered for him when made them. I guess they are really torn.
