Free Throws Much Improved

It’s no secret that the Clippers’ free-throw shooting has been horrendous this season. Heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Utah Jazz, the Clippers ranked last in the league with a team average of 57.7% (64 of 111). Worst on the team? power forward Brian Skinner, who made only two of his first 15 from the line.

“I don’t know if the guys are just nervous stepping up to the line or what,” said veteran shooting guard Eric Piatkowski, a career 82.5% free throw shooter. “We’re a young team and still very immature. It’s weird because an awful lot of these guys are better free throw shooters than they have shown in games. If you watch them in practice, they step up and hit every one. But then in the games, they are not even close. Hopefully, they are going to get better once they play in more games because they are more settled.”

The Clippers turned things around at the line against Utah, making 36 of 40 free throws.

Coach Alvin Gentry said it’s only another step for his young team.

“We practice them every day, I don’t know of too much else we can do,” Gentry said. “We shoot them a ton. We shoot them in the middle of practice. We shoot them in game-type situations in practice. We shoot them after practice. It’s just a matter of guys stepping up and making them.”

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Spreading playing time among his swingmen figures to be a challenge for Gentry the rest of the season. Although it could be viewed as a problem, Gentry considers it friendly competition.

“This is a strange situation because we’re still trying to find out about our team,” Gentry said. “We’re trying to figure out rotations and who does what in certain situations. We will continue to do that.”