Two games down, two games won.
Maybe that should have been expected for the Los Angeles Clippers starting their seven-game, 11-day trip to the East Coast which started with the two Florida teams. The Magic are still a developing team and the Heat are not quite what they used to be either. These are wins the Clippers should get.
Los Angeles though has not quite been itself yet though. Certainly not a championship contender yet.
The Clippers entered the road trip at 5-4. Matt Barnes was ice cold and was demoted from the starting line up for two games. He is shooting 35.9 percent from beyond the arc entering Thursday’s game. J.J. Redick, another hot shooter in the starting lineup, was struggling too, going 31.3 percent.
Those are two big pieces not playing up to the level they are expecting.
Blake Griffin has not met his MVP levels from last year and the team is probably DeAndre Jordan has excelled for Clippers even as Blake Griffin has struggled” href=”https://thecomeback.com/crossoverchronicles/2014-articles/deandre-jordan-has-excelled-for-clippers-even-as-blake-griffin-has-struggled.html” target=”_blank”>relying on a little more offensively from DeAndre Jordan. And so the Clippers were not in a good spot.
Supposedly in a very bad spot. Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times reported the Clippers were dealing with trust issues as they came together early on this season and integrate some new players:
I thought our trust was broken today offensively,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said after the team’s getaway game Monday against the Bulls. “I thought we all tried to do it individually where there’s no ball movement, the ball is in one spot.”
Two wins and some team bonding change a lot.
It is fairly often that these early season road trips come to define who teams are. The Bulls are on their Circus Trip right now and will likely be the team they will be when they get home. The Spurs always seem to hit their stride as their yearly Rodeo Trip moves along. The L.A. teams use their Grammy Trip away from Staples Center in February to round into form.
The Clippers have to be viewing this early season jaunt out East as a chance to come together and eliminate the distractions of home and get their season really going.
Again, two games in things seem to be going well.
Thursday, the Clippers dominated from the opening tip behind Chris Paul‘s 26 points and 12 assists in their 110-93 win over the Heat on Thursday. He had 16 points and nine assists in the 114-90 win over Orlando on Wednesday.
| Score | Off. Rtg. | eFG% | O.Reb.% | TO% | FTR | |
| L.A. Clippers | 110 | 116.4 | 64.3 | 14.3 | 14.8 | 22.1 |
| Miami | 93 | 106.1 | 49.3 | 16.2 | 14.8 | 46.3 |
Chris Paul (LAC) — 26 pts., 12 assts.; Blake Griffin (LAC) — 26 pts.
Chris Bosh (MIA) — 28 pts., 7 rebs.; Shabazz Napier (MIA) — 17 pts.
Game to Watch (11/21): Cavaliers vs. Wizards, 8 p.m./ESPN
Los Angeles’ hot shooting from the night before continued making 55.8 percent of the team’s shots and 13 of 31 3-pointers. It is going to be hard to stop any team shooting those percentages.
As Chris Bosh said after the game, the Heat did not stop the inside or outside. The Clippers just executed their gameplan flawlessly on back-to-back nights.
So maybe the Clippers are waking up from their prolonged slumber.
