Team of the Week- Los Angeles Clippers

Team of the Week- Los Angeles Clippers

If you would have told anyone in October that as we approach the mid way point of the season one of the hottest teams in the league would be from Los Angeles, I bet there would have been little to no disagreement. Sure, of course, I mean the Lakers were picked by many to repeat as champions, so it would be no surprise they would peaking at this time. Too bad I’m not talking about the Lakers. Instead it is the oft forgotten other L.A. team that is turning NBA heads. Now I don’t think anyone actually reads this blog fully so I’m sure I could get away with this, but I believe in full disclosure. After the Christmas Day embarrassment to the Suns, I wrote “that until Blake Griffin steps on the court I am not going to even give the Clippers a second thought.” Ok, so I was wrong. It isn’t often and usually I will vehemently deny any inaccuracies in my thoughts until proven otherwise, but simply, the facts don’t lie: the Clippers deserve to be examined, and I will just have to suck up my pride and do it.

1) In the five games since Christmas, the Clippers are 5-1, winners of four straight, and have recorded victories against some of the league’s top teams. In that stretch they have defeated Boston, Portland, the Lakers, and Miami all at home, with their lone blunder coming up at the Rose Garden in Portland. For years, the Clips have been straddling the line of mediocrity, but recently they seem to have taken some steps in the right direction.

2) The Clippers run has been first and foremost spurred on by a new commitment on the defensive end. In each of their victories, they have held their opponents to under 100 points, while in their loss they surrendered well over the century mark. The player who has been perhaps most surprising on defense in this stretch has been second year shooting guard Eric Gordon. Known for his silky jumper and offensive tendencies (second on the team in scoring at 17.3 a game), Gordon has really taken his last few defensive assignments very seriously. Facing arguably the three best shooting guards in Brandon Roy, Kobe, and D-Wade, Gordon undertook the challenge and limited the stars as best he could. He held Roy to just 12 points, made Kobe a volume scorer by forcing him into 30 shots, and pestered Wade into a sloppy 21. Each of those players are great jump shooters, but due to his protection behind him, Gordon was able to cheat up and eliminate their air space, forcing much more difficult shots. This is a recurrent theme, as the Clippers have become the 3rd best team in the league in defending the 3 pointer, holding opponents to just 32.5% shooting. This luxury is due to having two of the best shot blockers in the league behind him in Marcus Camby (2.15 bpg) and Chris Kaman (1.34). Wing defenders like Gordon are aware of the help they have behind them (the Clippers lead the league in blocks per game), and this has made life much easier in limiting some of the league’s great scorers.

Just another random thought on Gordon: In 2005, he was the starting 2 guard on possibly the best AAU team ever. The starting five for the Specie Indy Heat were Mike Conley Jr., Gordon, Daequan Cook, Josh McRoberts, and Greg Oden. As can be imagined for a team headlined with five future NBAers, the Heat rarely were challenged and raced their way to a national championship. In fact, the only team to really challenge them that year was the D1 Greyhounds led by O.J. Mayo and a pre-injury Bill Walker, who was truly something special.

3) But back to the Clippers. Like many of the teams in the league now a days, they can contribute a lot of their success to a player taken early in the 2003 draft. Sure he gets nowhere near the attention or accolades that his draft peers get, but with his recent play, Chris Kaman deserves some recognition. Taken with the 6th pick in that draft, the seven footer out of Central Michigan has always been a solid pro, but this year, he is playing at an All-Star level. On the year, he is one of only four players (along with Bosh, Duncan, and surprising Zach Randolph) to average over 20 points and 9 rebounds a game. He has been playing even better lately, and is the reigning Western Conference Player of the Week in which he averaged a double-double of 21 and 12, in leading the Clippers to a 3-0 record. Even despite some uncharacteristic mid-range jump shot struggles, Kaman has scored 20 points or more in 12 of his last 13 games. And already 5 times this year he has outscored the opposing starting center by more than 20 points, a feat he accomplished only a handful of times in his previous six seasons.

4) While the contributions of Gordon and Kaman have been incredibly important to the recent success, I think that the main catalyst for this mini resurgence lies in the play of point guard Baron Davis. After signing with the Clippers, Davis struggled through his first year last season, often looking out of shape and disinterested. He was publicly at odds with Coach Mike Dunleavy over the offense, and wanted to play a much more up-tempo pace like the one in which he excelled in with the Warriors. This year though Davis is now healthy, slimmed down, and playing with a renewed bravado. I don’t think that it is a coincidence that this Clippers run began after a Davis game winning buzzer beater over the Celtics. I think that shot helped jump start this team, and ever since, Davis has been back to his effervescent and “swaggish” personality on the court. After the Celtics game, he was the best player on the court in a show down with the Lakers, pouring in 25 points and handing out 10 assists. And though they are not scoring at the clip that Davis led Warriors used to, a compromise has seemingly been reached, and the Clippers are now taking more of their shots (36%) during the first ten seconds of the shot clock than other segment.

5) After winning the lottery in June and drafting Blake Griffin, things were supposed to turn around in Clipper land. But as we all know, Griffin hurt his knee and has yet to play a game this season. By all indication though, Griffin is healing nicely and should make his long awaited debut before the All-Star game in mid-February. Since Griffin is obviously going to be a big part of their future, they will need to find minutes for him now, and I think that it will be at the expense of Marcus Camby. At 35 years old, the ex-Minuteman is still a force on the defensive end, amongst the league leaders in blocks and rebounds. The only negative is he has a hefty contract that might deter some suitors. Still though, I feel that he his valuable enough to find his place on a contender in need of some interior defense. Barring a setback in Griffin’s recovery, and Camby keeps playing at a high level (13 rebounds a game in the last five), I fully expect him to be moved before the deadline.

6) Look, by the mere fact that I am writing about the Clippers says something about their season. They were expected to go nowhere, and with an 0-4 start were rightly fitting that bill. But now after their recent success, they stand at 17-18, and while that record would mean a playoff spot in the East, it leaves them in 12th place in the ultracompetitive West. They are currently only 3 games out of the 8th seed, and 4 games from the 6 spot though. That being said, the next few weeks will be very telling for how the rest of the season plays out for the Clippers. Each of the wins in their four game streak have come at home, but now they must play two true road games against Memphis and red hot New Orleans, before being the “away” team against the Lakers, and hosting the Cavaliers on Saturday. These are four tough games, with each increasing in difficulty according to records, and they can’t afford to go 1-3 or 0-4 and essentially undo all the good work they have done lately. And even if they make it through this stretch with a respectable split or surprisingly better results, there is an incredibly difficult eight game road trip waiting for them at the end of the month. They Clippers have struggled on the road, sporting a 5-10 record away from Staples, and I believe this could be a season making trip.

Overall, one has to be impressed by the Clippers run, but I think that they are still at least a year away from making the playoffs. They have some good young talent in Gordon and Griffin, a legit center in his prime in Kaman, and a rejuvenated point guard in Davis. This is a solid core to build upon, and one that will lead the Clippers to the playoffs in the future, but this season I don’t see them being able to win consistently enough on the road to keep pace in the West.