The Los Angeles Clippers continue to struggle against good teams, and we have to ask ourselves: What does this mean for the future?
After Monday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks dropped the Clippers to 7-10 against teams with a .500 or better record, the players, coach, and fans are starting to wonder if this team is a legitimate contender.
After the game, players voiced frustration and confusion, via ESPN.com.
Despite only scoring 98 points, most of the players pointed to the defense as the reason the game slipped away.
“Defensively, we have no presence,” said Chris Paul
“You see it in spurts of us having the right tools to be a defensive team,” DeAndre Jordan said. “Then there’s times where we look like we don’t know what we’re doing.”
But are they right? Did the Clippers defense really desert them, or is this an entirely different problem. As the back of my Chipotle bag asks, “Do we really have the problem we think we have”?
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Los Angeles scored only 98 points in their latest debacle. In seven of their 12 losses this year, the Clippers have failed to score 100 points. In a Nov. 10 loss to San Antonio, the Clippers scored only 85 points. On Nov. 17, the Clippers scored only 89 points against the Chicago Bulls. Dec. 12, against the Washington Wizards, the Clippers scored only 92 points.
You see it over and over, Los Angeles having trouble scoring against elite teams, especially so against teams with a quality frontcourt.
Only twice this year have the Clippers won a game while scoring less than 100 points, once against the pathetic and terrible New York Knicks, and then once on opening night against the Oklahoma City Thunder who were without both Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.
The strength of this team is not its defense. The strength is a great offense, while playing defense just well enough to win.
With that being said, Los Angeles needs to focus on solving the real problem. Why does their offense go stagnant against quality teams?
Part of that is because of the spacing issues presented by playing DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin together. Good teams pack the paint to prevent the easy baskets that Jordan feasts on, while forcing the Clippers into taking long jumpers.
I have beaten the dead horse that is Griffin’s shot selection, but its clear that teams with good defensive schemes and quality post defenders bottle up the Clipper offense. Paul cannot drive and kick with the lane clogged, and Los Angeles does not have any wing creators in J.J. Redick and Matt Barnes.
Only Jamal Crawford off the bench is capable of creating his own shot, and Rivers’ insistence on keeping Griffin and Jordan on the court at the same time is killing the on-court chemistry. Chris Paul is an all-star quality point guard, but you cannot expect him to create all the offense, all the time, by himself.
Basically, the Clippers need to either find another playmaker, or adjust their rotations to keep Griffin and Jordan separated as much as possible.
In the Hawks’ game, Griffin had a great box score, with 28 points and 10 rebounds, but he shot only 6-of-17 from the field and was a game-worst minus-17 in plus/minus, while playing 40 minutes. He also had five fouls and five turnovers.
Spencer Hawes, meanwhile, played only 17 minutes, and was a bad but not terrible minus-1 in those minutes.
It is clear that Griffin is playing too many minutes, and is taking poor shots. Why Rivers’ refuses to trust Hawes with more playing time is unknown, although the injury has provided a convenient excuse. Currently Griffin is eighth in real plus/minus among power forwards, according to ESPN.com’s real plus minus chart.
The players ahead of him are all on playoff teams, using current standings, other than Anthony Davis, the current leader, and Serge Ibaka, of the soon to be playoff bound Thunder. Hawes meanwhile, is just 53rd among big men, but he has appeared in just 17 minutes per game, mostly with inferior teammates on the floor with him.
Hawes is the key to this team’s playoff run. He needs to find a steady role with this team and Rivers needs to play him more minutes. Griffin cannot continue to play 40 minutes a night while launching a bunch of long two-point jump shots each night.
If Rivers cannot figure out the rotation, and the Clippers end up starting the playoffs on an opponent’s home court, leading to a first round flameout, there will be lots of questions asked in Clipperland come the off-season, and you can bet that new owner Steve Ballmer will not be nearly as tolerant of mediocrity as his decrepit predecessor, Donald Sterling.