Blake Griffin becoming more sure about shooting

His Clippers teammates constantly encourage Blake Griffin to shoot the basketball when he’s open.

They know Griffin puts in the extra time working on his jump shot with Clippers shooting coach Bob Thate.

They all know that the defense is doing all it can to limit Griffin’s dunks and post-ups down low.

So when he has that 15-foot jump shot, Griffin’s teammates have just one thing to tell the All-Star power forward.

“Every game, every practice, before every game, a lot of guys will come up and be like, ‘Shoot it. We see you working on it every day. Shoot it,’” Griffin said. “That helps to know that your teammates want you to shoot that shot.”

He says that when he shoots the basketball now, he thinks “it’s going to go in” and that he doesn’t “second-guess” anymore.

Griffin, who is averaging 16.7 points on 49.5% shooting, said he has watched a lot of tape with Thate to detect the flaws in his jump shot.

“Most of the time now when I shoot, when I mess up, I hold the ball a little too long, especially on the way down,” Griffin said. “My posture is a lot better as far as going straight up and down. Sometimes I hold the ball back a little too far, but coming back too far is minor. The thing I’m really working on now is trying to shoot on the way up.”

Odom making progress

Though Lamar Odom is averaging only 1.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists, his teammates are seeing progress.

Odom still has to lose 11 more pounds, but his teammates say the backup forward is looking sharper.

“I talked to him about it and he said it’s a slow process,” Griffin said. “You can kind of see in his step, his bounce and the way he’s playing. We kind of figured it was going to be around Christmastime before you really see like real flashes. He’ll be the first to admit that he had to really get back in shape.”

Utah tough place to play

Chris Paul said it’s so tough to play in Utah because every player knows that none of the Jazz fans are cheering for the opponent.

Paul said the Clippers can visit other arenas and hear some cheers for their team, but not in Salt Lake City.

On Monday night, the Clippers will face a Jazz team that is 6-0 at EnergySolutions Arena.

“Everybody is for the home team,” Paul said. “They support their team. For the 48 minutes, it’s always going to be tough. They are going to play one way. It’s going to be a hard-fought game. That’s what you are going to get in Utah.”

Etc.

Jamal Crawford has made a career-high 44 consecutive free throws this season. His last miss was against the Golden State Warriors on Nov. 3, when he missed two in a row… Willie Green didn’t practice Sunday because of a knee injury.

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