Zach Randolph Has No Conscience

The Clippers almost upset the Cavs last night, leading for most of the game before a stunning collapse in the final quarter. But even after coughing up a 19-point lead, the Clips still had a chance to tie or win the game with six seconds left ... until Zach Randolph decided to play hero with a step-back three that missed the rim completely. If you couldn't tell by Mike Dunleavy's facial expression, that wasn't exactly the play he drew up in the timeout.

From Graham Flashner of SLAM.com:

"He had plenty of time. Zach had the time, but he turned around and shot that shot. I guess Zach did not realize the time and just took the shot. Normally, we like to get the ball in, get the cutters to come off, get into attack mode, get to the rim for a score, or draw and kick the ball to a good shooter. That shot was definitely not designed for anyone."

– In a predictably subdued locker room, Zach Randolph agreed with Dunleavy: "It was a bad shot. I should've drove it. I thought he time was shorter... we didn't draw the play right. Baron was supposed to get the ball, I was supposed to pick and roll... tough loss."

Randolph was stuck behind Rasheed Wallace when they were both in Portland, and sometimes I wonder if he's spent his career trying to follow in Wallace's footsteps. But the thing is, Randolph is like the anti-Sheed -- he does all the negative things (questionable attitude, off-court issues, spends more time behind the three-point line than a guy with his post skills should) without any of the positives (cares solely about winning, puts no value on personal statistics, beloved by teammates).

In any case, if there's one positive thing comes out of this travesty of a game, it's an excuse to trot out my favorite Z-Bo "highlight" from the Isiah-era Knicks -- enjoy: