In the stacked Western Conference, it’s very easy to get lost in the shuffle. With teams like the 42-9 Golden State Warriors and 39-14 Memphis Grizzlies, along with five other 30+ win teams at the All-Star break in the conference, there are extremely talented squads everywhere.
The argument could be made that a good five to seven West teams could potentially win the conference, and the 35-19 Los Angeles Clippers, the current No. 6 seed, are definitely one of those teams. However, it doesn’t seem that Doc Rivers’ group is being considered as seriously as it has in the past, even with its depth and the stunning improvement of DeAndre Jordan.
Since the acquisition of Chris Paul and development of Jordan and Blake Griffin, the Clippers have been viewed as potential conference champions, but just have never been able to get over the proverbial hump. L.A. has failed to advance past the conference semifinals in any of Paul’s three postseasons with the team. It’s hard to win a conference without even making the championship game.
Now, it appears as if none, if very few, people are expecting the Clippers to advance far in the postseason this year. The lack of moves–outside of the questionable and maybe nepotism-related Austin Rivers pickup–by Doc, who is head coach and president of basketball operations, has been criticized as has the presence of the very old Hedo Turkoglu and very big Glen Davis on L.A.’s bench. Still, even with all this turmoil to go with possible chemistry issues and a Blake Griffin injury, the team is 1.5 games behind No. 3 Portland and No. 4 Houston.
Considering their recent four-game road skid, including a loss to the lowly Nets though, the Clippers are in a pretty darn good position. This season, as opposed to the last few, they don’t have the heavy weight of insanely high expectations saddled on them–they’re still high, just not as high–and played good basketball heading into the break, winning two in a row against tough conference foes in the Mavericks and Rockets.
Granted, Griffin’s injury–expected to keep him out three weeks–is not good news at all. It’s not a death knell at all, because when they return from this week’s break, the Clippers will be at home for a three-game stretch before heading out on a four-game road trip. They’ll play some tough teams in those seven games–the Grizzlies twice, Spurs and Bulls–but with how well Jordan has played as of late, they might be able to handle Griffin’s absence without falling apart.
Back on February 2nd, Jordan crushed the Nets, posting a 22-point, 20-rebound performance in an L.A. loss. He muddled around with some near double-double games in losses to the Cavaliers, Raptors and Thunder before putting together back-to-back 20-20s as the Clips destroyed Dallas and Houston. When any player averages 23 points and 23.5 rebounds over a two-game span, it’s time to take notice.
Simply, he’s been unstoppable with the only thing slowing him down being his consistently atrocious free throw shooting. Even when team’s employ the Hack-a-DeAndre method and he complies by missing often, opponents rack up fouls very quickly and thus tend to play a little softer on the other four Clippers on the floor. This opens everything up for scorers like Paul, Jamal Crawford, J.J. Redick and Rivers (if he can ever put it all together).
So maybe it’s good for the Clippers that they’re being glossed over as serious contenders in the gladiatorial West and maybe it’s not so bad that Blake Griffin is out for some time. They’re right in the thick of it in the playoff hunt right now and are trending upward. Also, with their schedule easing up late in March and into April, there are more reasons to be confident in them than not. Why can’t it be their year?
