Lob City, population 19,426, arrived at Staples Center on Friday night, a sellout crowd oohing and aahing over the most exciting Clippers lineup in franchise history. But for all the Blake Griffin jams, Chris Paul no-looks, and DeAndre Jordan blocks, this team is still a work in progress – and will be all season. 

The litmus tests have come fast and furious for the Clippers in this opening week, and so far, they’ve failed both. At least Friday night’s 114-101 loss to the Bulls was an honorable failure, after Wednesday’s 115-90 blow out in San Antonio. While the Bulls, and their reigning MVP Derrick Rose, looked like a team in midseason form, the Clippers looked like they could use another six weeks of training camp.  

Rose put on a dominating performance – “one of the greatest I’ve ever seen,” said Joakim Noah afterwards – scoring 29 points handing out 16 assists, and carving up the Clippers defense six ways to Sunday. 

Paul gamely did his part, with 15 points and 14 assists, and Griffin muscled his way to 34 points and 13 boards, but there’s no shame in saying the Clippers are just not at an elite level yet.  They gave up 50% shooting against the Spurs and Bulls, and have been outrebounded in all three games.

Before the game, coach Vinny Del Negro lamented his team’s deficiencies.

“Our defense and our rebounding are obviously an issue,” he said.  “We’re giving up too many points right now."

Asked about Lob City, Del Negro said “Highlight lobs are great, if it’s the right basketball play.” Otherwise, he said, “I’d rather see ‘Win’ City.”

The city of Los Angeles is ready to embrace them. In a year when the Lakers have appeared to regress, it’s hip to be Clip. Fans entering Staples Center from the north side could see giant murals of Griffin, Paul, and Jordan adorning the nearby Figueroa Hotel. Inside Staples, hip-hop music blared, hazy smoke filled the air, and fans held red giveaway T-shirts that said, “Game on”. 

Both Griffin and Paul addressed the crowd before the game, Paul promising “a lot of fun”, and Griffin promising to try and “make this a season you won’t forget.”

The P.A. announcer exhorted the crowd to its feet for the opening tip, and what they got was an unforgettable first two minutes: Griffin buckling Noah’s knees with a fake, and driving around him for a two-handed dunk; Griffin slipping past Carlos Boozer for a layup; Mo Williams, staring in place of the injured Chauncey Billups (strained groin), hitting a three from the corner. 7-0 Clips, crowd roaring, time-out, Bulls.

That was as good as it got for the Clippers, who couldn’t keep up with Rose’s dribble penetration and an array of shooters – Noah, (19 points), Luol Deng (19 ), and Richard Hamilton (16) spreading the floor and beating the Clippers on backside cuts.  While the Clippers gave Lob City plenty to cheer out, with thunderous dunks by Griffin and Jordan off adroit passes from Paul – the more aggressive Bulls shot 34 free throws to the Clippers’ 20, and got Jordan into early foul trouble.   The Clippers had flash; the Bulls had fundamentals.  The much-heralded duel between Rose and Paul was won decisively by Rose, who is now 5-0 vs. Paul-led teams.

Even so, the Clippers were within three at 87-84 early in the fourth, when a 16-4 Bulls run essentially sealed it, punctuated by two long threes from Rose and super sub Kyle Korver. By the time Rose finished things off with a gorgeous feed down low to Noah and a 110-95 lead, shouts of “MVP!” were heard from a partisan section of Bulls fans.

“Derrick is just a handful and we all know that," said Del Negro, who knows Rose all too well, having coached him in his first two seasons with Chicago. "I didn't think we ganged up on him enough. He got too many free throws, but he also hit some tough shots in the fourth quarter, stepping behind the line and hitting some 3s. And when he does that, it puts a lot more pressure on you."

"We were up to the challenge, and we were capable (of winning)," a dejected Griffin said. "But we've got 63 more, so we'll be all right. We're going to win games, but we've got to get better defensively.”

But it was Jordan who put things in proper perspective. “They’ve been together four, five years,” he said of the Bulls. “We’ve been together 14 days.”