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LA Clippers at NBA season’s halfway point: How far have they come?

By Jasmine Robinson

November 21, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers and forward Blake Griffin (32) are introduced before playing against the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
November 21, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers and forward Blake Griffin (32) are introduced before playing against the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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November 21, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers and forward Blake Griffin (32) are introduced before playing against the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
November 21, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; LA Clippers and forward Blake Griffin (32) are introduced before playing against the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

As the LA Clippers reach the halfway point of the 2016-17 NBA season, let’s look back in time to see where they were at this time in past years.

As we reach and pass the halfway point of the 2016-17 NBA season, it is a good time to look back and reflect on what went right and what went wrong in the first 41 games. As I took a moment to reflect on the first half of the season, I came across a fact: the LA Clippers have the exact same record after half the season as they did in the 2015-16 season.

This lead me to think about the perils of that season, and the season before, and so on and so on. Here, I will go back in the past and explore where the Clippers were at this time of the season in previous years.

2015-16 season

After a premature exit out of the playoffs and a free agency party at DeAndre Jordan‘s home one July afternoon, the Clippers came into the season ready to put the past behind them and just play ball for once.

The Clippers beat the Rockets in overtime 140-132, making their record 27-14, which, as I previously mentioned, is exactly where we are right now. One might see this and be discouraged that they’ve made no progress on paper, but fear not. If it makes you feel better, we’ve played multiple games without Blake Griffin and Chris Paul this season (that we lost), and thankfully we weren’t in that situation last season at all. Taking into account the six-game losing streak the team closed out 2016 with, it’s not super horrible.

J.J. Redick scored a career-high 40 points and shot 9-of-12 from three, tying the all-time Clippers record for threes in a game (Caron Butler). Also, this Clippers team tied the all-time record for threes in a game in franchise history. Paul Pierce, in place of Blake Griffin had a season-high 12 points and was +15 in the plus/minus column. DeAndre Jordan had 16 points, 15 boards and two blocks. And unfortunately, Pablo Prigioni scored zero points after clocking in 10 minutes against his former team. Josh Smith, C.J. Wilcox, and Lance Stephenson all logged in a DNP.

This was Blake’s 11th game sitting out with an injured quad, and about a week before a team dinner in Chicago lead to him getting surgery to repair his right hand.

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