The Los Angeles Clippers are better than you’re being told
By Joey Linn
The Los Angeles Clippers can beat anyone
Looking only at the Los Angeles Clippers’ record, team ratings, or single games, would be disingenuous considering their lack of health and immense success when mostly healthy. As already discussed, this team is the league’s best this season when they have been even just mostly healthy.
The problem, however, is that such fortune has been rare. Kawhi Leonard has missed 10 games, which ranks just third on the team in games missed. Landry Shamet’s 17 and Paul George’s 12 missed games, have Kawhi beat.
Add in the nine missed games from JaMychal Green, eight from Pat Bev, three from Lou, and even the one rare miss from Trezz, and this team has been clawing to get healthy.
So far, the complete roster has only been available for one game. That game was on Christmas, when the Clippers beat the Los Angeles Lakers for the second time already this season. This leads to the next point, that addresses the Clippers and how they specifically match up with the league’s premier talent.
Rightly so, the Lakers are widely regarded as the Clippers’ biggest threat. So far, they have been nothing of the sorts. The Clippers are currently 2-0 against the Lakers, with one of those wins coming without Paul George and the other coming with him shooting very poorly.
If this trend continues, the Lakers’ best hope is that someone else eliminates the Clippers for them. That won’t happen either.
Another common false narrative is that the Clippers can’t beat Utah or Houston. Selective memory indeed must be in effect for one to fire off such a take, because that is far from the case.
The Clippers lost to Utah on October 30th, in a game they had neither Kawhi nor PG for. The two teams met again just two games later when the Clippers beat the Jazz handily with Kawhi and no Paul George. The most recent matchup between the Clippers and the Jazz came on December 28th, when the Clippers finally had both Kawhi and PG ready to play.
The duo uncharacteristically shot a combined 12/44 from the field, which when added to just 5/14 from Lou, and no Trezz, amounted to a sure loss. The two teams will play for the fourth and final time in the regular season on April 7th. To say the Clippers can’t beat Utah, and cite their 1-2 record as proof, is really bad.
The loss without Kawhi and PG obviously gets thrown out, and the recent loss in which they got snuck, is also a poor indicator when the team’s top-3 scorers shoot 17/58 from the field and their next best scorer didn’t suit up.
As far as Houston is concerned, the song remains the same. The Clippers hold a 1-2 record against the Rockets, with one left to play. The first loss came on the road, in a game with Kawhi and no PG. The Clippers actually led late in that game, but some questionable officiating and the ejections of Doc Rovers and Pat Bev cemented that one as a tough loss.
In just Kawhi and PG’s 2nd game together, the duo knocked off Houston on ESPN behind some late-game heroics from everyone on the floor. Their most recent matchup seemed as if it was going to be an easy win for the Clippers, as they led by nearly 20 points in the second half.
Some major collapses and a rare efficient 40 point performance from Russell Westbrook stole that game late. Once again, simply looking at the Clippers 1-2 record against Houston tells none of the story on how the two teams match up with one another.
The final question mark that gets thrown around when discussing the Clippers’ road to their first title, surrounds their ability to knock off the Milwaukee Bucks. It is a weird thought, considering the only time these two teams could see each other again would be in the Finals, but it isn’t that far fetched.
The Clippers are 0-2 against Milwaukee so far, and the games have been very interesting. The first loss came without both Kawhi and PG, which pregame seemed like a sure blowout. The Clippers were in full “never say die” mode, as they fought valiantly in that game but came up just short in a five-point loss.
The next matchup was presumed to be the one to watch, as both teams had their stars ready to play. The Clippers got blown out from tip to buzzer, as Kawhi, PG, and Lou shot just 15/39 from the field and the Clippers lost their final meeting with the Bucks.
How much can we take away from the Clippers being 0-2 against the Bucks in the regular season? The answer is very little. The 2019 NBA Champion Raptors, led by none other than Kawhi Leonard, went just 1-3 against the Bucks in the regular season.
In fact, they lost five of their first six games against Milwaukee, counting the playoffs. After going 1-3 against the Bucks in the regular season, the Raptors dropped the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals before running off four straight wins to beat the Bucks in six.
That exact case is the perfect reason why citing the Clippers’ 0-2 regular season against the Bucks as a reason why they wouldn’t beat them in the Finals, just doesn’t make sense.
The Los Angeles Clippers’ current standing, their dominance when healthy, and how they match up with the league’s best, has been analyzed. All that is left to discuss, is what comes next.