Rowan Kavner
MIAMI – First impressions have now sunk in around the NBA with every team at least 10 games into their respective seasons.
ESPN.com writers J.A. Adande, Kevin Arnovitz, Amin Elhassan, Israel Gutierrez and Ethan Sherwood Strauss played a game of “contenders” vs. “pretenders.”
They looked at five playoff hopefuls currently near the top of the division standings and predicted which teams have a legitimate shot at staying there, with only Arnovitz and Gutierrez calling the Clippers “contenders.”
Both Arnovitz and Gutierrez seem to think the nucleus of Clippers stars is enough to make them “contenders.” However, they both referenced the Clippers’ small forward spot as a cause for concern. The Clippers’ issues defending opposing wings have been well-documented, as Oklahoma City’s Perry Jones (32 points), San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard (26) points and Orlando’s Tobias Harris (25 points) all recorded game-highs when they player the Clippers.
That said, the Clippers are still top six in the league in offensive rating, dropped their defensive rating down to 104.5 after allowing 90 points to the Magic and 93 points to the Heat and have seen better performances recently from Matt Barnes, who was inserted back into the starting lineup and has gone 8-for-14 from the floor the past two games.
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The other teams in the list were the Cavaliers, Wizards, Trail Blazers and Rockets. Adande and Strauss had the Blazers as the only “contenders,” while Arnovitz listed everyone but the Wizards as “contenders.” Elhassan had no “contenders,” while the Clippers were the only “contenders” for Gutierrez.
Adande referenced the Clippers’ defense and preference to “fire up jumpers,” Elhassan said there’s a disconnect on the team and Strauss referenced the wing defense, as did Arnovitz and Gutierrez.
Griffin has made it a point to find a better mix between attacking and settling for jump shots, and he seemed to find that better with three dunks against the Heat. The Clippers also average only 35.6 points in the paint per game and poured in 44 in the paint against the Heat, as they got in transition and looked more like themselves. Still, head coach Doc Rivers has said he wants his outside shooters to take the jump shots given to them when they’re open. The Clippers are tied for first in the league in shots attempted from 25 to 29 feet and rank 15th in percent made from that distance. They’re also top 10 in 3-point attempts per game and ranked 11th in 3-point percentage.
But the outside shot has been better in recent games, as the Clippers shot 41.9 percent from deep against the Heat and 57 percent from deep against the Magic. The Clippers haven’t yet found themselves offensively game after game, yet they’re still sixth in the league in offensive efficiency.
Regardless, not much love there for the Clippers from the ESPN panel. It’s possible the national respect increases with more games where the Clippers show trust and cohesion the way they did in Florida this road trip.
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