Clippers Can Still Close Out The Season On A High
With Chris Paul now officially cleared to play, the Clippers have exactly 26 games to prove to everyone that they are still a legitimate title contender
The news of Chris Paul being cleared to return couldn’t have come at a better time for the Clippers.
Blake Griffin is finally playing like the MVP-candidate from two years ago. The “get out of my way or I’m going straight through you” attitude is back and seemingly better than ever. His ability to control the tempo of the game was a huge boost for a Clippers team that struggled to even tread water in a hectic Western Conference.
Chris Paul coming back is exactly what Blake Griffin needs. LA haven’t had both of their superstars on the floor at the same time since mid-December against the Washington Wizards.
The competitive mentality of Chris Paul cannot be understated. His leadership transforms this entire squad.
Although the Griffin led Clippers into the All-Star break winning 4 in a row, the team just lacked the cut-throat, kill or be killed attitude. Chris Paul is the floor general, and not just in a running the offense, play-making capacity.
The defensive presence of the Clippers is a lot less intimidating when the opposing team know their best guard doesn’t have to spend 25-30 minutes trying to run away from an All-NBA defender like Paul.
The Remaining Schedule
With 26 games left in the regular season, the Clippers might just be about to peak at the perfect time. Looking at the games to be played, there’s no glaring reason that Los Angeles can’t still establish themselves as a top 3 seed.
As always seems to be the case, the sheer number of back-to-back games that the Clippers encounter during the regular season is less than favourable.
Even with seven back-to-back’s still on the calendar including Golden State tonight and San Antonio tomorrow, the Clippers could quite confidently surge into the postseason.
The Biggest Contenders
Although cleared to play, it’s unlikely that Coach Rivers would put Chris Paul through the misery of returning against Golden State, so based on previous meetings the assumption would be that the Clippers will once again struggle to take down the current #1 seed.(Editor’s Note: Chris Paul has officially been ruled out)
Tomorrow evening against San Antonio is an interesting one. The Clippers are general considered to be quite a guard-heavy team, which is exactly where the Spurs are the weakest. The Clippers have already beaten San Antonio twice this season. In this one, advantage Los Angeles.
The Potential Trap Games
Charlotte, Houston twice , Milwaukee twice and Chicago are all the games that the Clippers are more than capable of winning. Houston in particular will be a good reference point as to where the Los Angeles are in terms of coming together as a unit and being able to hang with the top teams in the West. The teams that are potential playoff matchups.
The Defensive Juggernauts
Boston, Memphis and Utah are always going to be extremely games. The stifling defensive styles require everyone to be on point for the entire duration of the game. These are the types of teams that the reserve unit can really show their worth against, especially Memphis who the Clippers would be locked into a first round playoff series against if the season ended today.
The Potential Lottery Teams
Minnesota, Philly, Denver, New York, the Lakers, Dallas, Phoenix and the corpse of Sacramento basketball are all teams that on paper, a healthy Clippers squad should be able to bulldoze without too much of a problem.
The East Contenders
That just leaves Cleveland and Washington. The Cavs lost a hard-fought game against the Clippers earlier in the season but as always, you would be a fool to bet against LeBron James. Although Washington are red-hot at the moment, Chris Paul has a pretty good track record of making John Wall sing for his supper. Blake and DeAndre in theory should have a field day with the Wizards front-court, and as always Los Angeles will have to find ways to slow down the opposing wing scorers.
The Race For Playoff Seeding
If you take the time to break down each of the match-ups that the Clippers have between now and the end of the season, with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin both healthy you wouldn’t be insane to believe they could go 20-6 or better.
The best chance the Clippers have of getting to the always elusive Western Conference Finals is if they can surge past Houston for third and miss Golden State in the second round, or fall all the way down to sixth and lose home court advantage in the process.