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Jeff Miller: Reggie Evans is Clippers’ barometer

By Jeff Miller, The Orange County Register –

LOS ANGELES — He has played 10 NBA seasons, never making an All-Star team, never averaging as many as six points a game, never blocking more than 0.2 of a shot per game.

Reggie Evans is no Andrew Bynum. Not even close.

And for that, the Clippers can be thankful.

(PHOTO: The Los Angeles Clippers’ Reggie Evans is fouled as he drives to the basket against the Memphis Grizzlies’ Quincy Pondexter, left, and O.J. Mayo in the first half of Game 3 of the Western Conference first-round playoff series at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday, May 5, 2012.)

As Bynum was in Denver on Saturday, explaining why he no-showed for the first half of a Lakers’ playoff game, Evans was at Staples Center, leaving slicks of sweat on the hardwood, cradling one loose ball like a fumble and showing up again and again and again in a Clippers playoff game.

Not coincidentally, the Lakers lost Friday in Colorado and the Clippers won Saturday at home, where their heart is, wearing, on this day, jersey No. 30 and the NBA’s second-worst beard, right behind James Harden’s nod to the Old Testament.

“I’ve been in the league a long time,” Evans said after an 87-86 victory over Memphis. “This is my fifth playoffs, so I was ready. I’m ready for the call, for the challenge.”

Meanwhile, Bynum, blessed with the kind of body and skill set Evans knows only from a distance, was telling reporters in Denver he “took” himself out of Game 3 of that series, explaining, “maybe just not ready to play.”

Have to give Bynum credit for being honest with his words, if not his effort. The Clippers don’t have that concern with Evans, who, in a twist on a familiar home-court theme, plays with such passion that the crowd feeds off him.

They even chanted his name more than once Saturday, Staples Center trembling with the sort of chaos Lakers fans raise only when something really spectacular happens, you know, like the giant video board showing Andy Garcia.

“I guess they just appreciate hard work,” Evans said of the chanting fans. “I just do my best. Everybody in the stands pretty much works so hard to earn a dollar. So at least, they want to see somebody work hard. I guess they appreciate the kind of player I am.”

It’s likely the Clippers lose this game without the contributions of Evans. That’s quite a statement seeing how he made only one basket and just two of his eight free-throw attempts and, afterward, his coach, Vinny Del Negro, noted, “I thought he set a couple good screens.”

But in 24 minutes, Evans also secured 11 rebounds — more than any player on either team — and finished the game wearing as much of Zach Randolph’s sweat as his own.

In the fourth quarter of a game the Clippers desperately wanted to win, Evans played 11 minutes, 58 seconds. Blake Griffin played half that amount. Chris Paul was in for 31/2 fewer minutes of the fourth than Evans was.

“He plays hard, always,” Del Negro said. “He rebounds. A couple of those rebounds today were huge.”

Twice in the final, deciding four minutes, Evans beat all the Grizzlies to rebound teammates’ missed free throws. Those are the sorts of hustle plays you see in high school games, yes, but rarely in the NBA and even less frequently in May.

The only problem with Evans getting late offensive rebounds is the fact he then has the ball in his hands. Funny, but when it’s Reggie Evans standing unguarded from 15 feet away, the opposition’s free throw defense greatly improves.

The Grizzlies all but accosted him with 12.3 seconds remaining when he grabbed an Eric Bledsoe miss.

“I was so mad,” Evans said. “They didn’t give me no time to get rid of the ball. I wanted to get it to Chris so bad.

“You know what? I missed the free throws, but I’m not going to dwell on the fact I missed them. My biggest thing is just making it up on defense.

“But, seeing Rudy Gay hit two 3’s like that … that last possession had to be the longest, what, eight seconds ever?”

Gay’s final shot at the buzzer caught too much of the rim, and the Clippers survived to go up 2-1 in games. That gives them something in common with the Lakers, who are up 2-1 entering Sunday.

“For what it’s worth,” Bynum was saying back in Denver, “I’m going to go and be ready for tomorrow’s game.”

When you’re Andrew Bynum, you can drift in and out, making those kinds of promises and getting away with it.

But when you’re Reggie Evans, the only promises you can make are with your play. And with your passion.

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