His teammates often don't know what he's saying, much less doing. They tend not to care when it brings them together as it did Monday night.
Glen Davis might have been the most active Clipper even though he played sparingly, exhorting the crowd and his teammates throughout the team's 102-98 victory over the Denver Nuggets.
The backup power forward didn't like the passive reaction to a Staples Center deejay's request for fans to stand until the Clippers scored their first basket, so he encouraged them himself.
He disapproved of the starters' ball movement in the beginning of the third quarter, so he told his fellow reserves to fix it when they entered the game. They did, sharing the ball until they found easy baskets.
Davis even had eight points and five rebounds, a bonanza of production for 10 minutes of playing time.
"He was unbelievable tonight, just as important as I was," said Clippers reserve Jamal Crawford, whose 21 fourth-quarter points capped the team's comeback from a 10-point deficit in the quarter.
The Clippers will start their eight-game Grammy Awards trip against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night at EnergySolutions Arena having possibly found the answer to their energy deficit. He is a 6-foot-9, 290-pound mound of sound who can change a game by merely opening his mouth.
"He'll be on the bench and talking about a sausage pepper sandwich," forward Blake Griffin said. "He's like, 'I don't want no mayonnaise. Just meat and bread.' And I was like, 'All right. Let's get him a sausage sandwich.' But it doesn't matter what he's saying. It's that energy and the way he's playing."
Davis' enthusiasm has reinvigorated a previously underperforming bench, sparking the Clippers' five-game winning streak. Some have attributed improved chemistry to the recent arrival of Austin Rivers and Dahntay Jones, but the holdover reserves have been even more essential to reversing the bench's struggles.
"The guys that had been here knew it, so I think it's more on them," Coach Doc Rivers said. "They work out together now. It's amazing. Every practice, they work together before and after as a group."
Rivers said the starters are now asking the reserves to provide a jolt when they enter games, something Davis is uniquely suited to provide.
"His energy," Crawford said, "can lift a whole building."
The trick is for it to happen more regularly.
"He has to bring that every night," Crawford said. "I mean, that can turn into wins for us."
Matt Barnes talks about fine
The NBA fined Clippers small forward Matt Barnes $25,000 for directing inappropriate language at a spectator in Phoenix on Sunday night, but Barnes tweeted Tuesday that it wasn't just any spectator.
"I was talkn [sic] to the owner of the Suns …" Barnes tweeted, referring to Robert Sarver, "... Who was sitting on the baseline & I only said something to him AFTER he cussed at me, BUT because I didn't SNITCH I get fined!! #thecode."
Barnes also mentioned a recent $25,000 fine for kicking a Gatorade cup with water, tweeting that the tab he had run up with the league could prompt him to moonlight.
"I might need to find a second job with all these crazy tecs [sic] & fines," Barnes tweeted. "I Can see it now [in the] LA TIMES ... 'Costco worker by day nba player by night."
He ended the tweet with an emoticon showing tears of laughter and posted a photo on Instagram of himself dressed as a Costco cashier, complete with a name tag reading "MATT."
Barnes added injury to insult Monday, reaggravating a strained abdominal muscle in the fourth quarter, though he is expected to play against the Jazz.
Shooting star?
For the first time in his nine-year NBA career, Clippers shooting guard J.J. Redick has been selected to compete in the three-point competition as part of All-Star weekend. Other participants are expected to include Atlanta's Kyle Korver, Portland's Wesley Matthews and Golden State's Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
CLIPPERS AT JAZZ
When: 6 p.m. PST, Wednesday.
Where: EnergySolutions Arena.
On the air: TV: Prime Ticket; Radio: 980, 1330.
Records: Clippers 31-14, Jazz 16-29.
Record vs. Jazz: 3-0.
Update: Utah is 5-7 since former Clippers training camp invitee Joe Ingles moved into the starting lineup, which qualifies as an improvement over its 11-22 record with the rookie small forward coming off the bench. The rebuilding Jazz hasn't built much of a homecourt advantage this season, going 8-13 inside its own building, including a 99-90 loss to Boston on Monday.
Times staff writer Melissa Rohlin contributed to this report.
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