Despite poor shooting from deep, the Los Angeles Clippers have found ways to win against tough Western Conference competition.
The Los Angeles Clippers have started the season 2-1 despite shooting poorly. Even in their 107-98 loss to the Nuggets, the Clippers kept the game closer than the final score indicated.
Through their three games, LA is shooting only 30.4% from deep. This puts them at 27th in the league. (Surprisingly, the 3-0 Nuggets are at 28th with 27.4%). Despite this horrendous shooting, the Clippers have managed to beat both the Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets who are by many considered to be shoe-ins for the playoffs.
How have the Clippers done this? There have been a variety of factors.
Inside
The first answer is points in the paint. Currently, the Clippers rank 10th in the league with 50.7 points in the paint per game. The team has scored 54.6% of their points in the paint, while only 7.5% of those come from shots in the mid-range.
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More specifically, the team is scoring 47.4% on drives, which is in the top half of the league (12th). According to NBA tracking stats, the team has scored on 62.3% of paint touches. They have 26.3 paint touches per game which is also good enough for 12th in the league. The two point scoring is likely boosting the team’s abysmal eFG%, which is only 46.1%.
While the three-point shot isn’t falling, driving to the paint will not only result in points, but will open up the three ball. With players like Lou Williams, Tobias Harris and Danilo Gallinari on the roster, the three ball will eventually fall.
Freebies
All this scoring inside plays into another factor of their victories – free throws. The Clippers rank fifth in the league in percent of points from free throws, scoring nearly a quarter of their points (22.7%) from the charity stripe.
This factor helped them immensely in last night’s victory against the Houston Rockets, in which the team went a perfect 26 of 26 from the free throw line. They out shot Houston from the stripe by 14, which is amazing considering the rate James Harden gets to the line.
Lock-Down
The final factor in their winning despite poor shooting is the defensive end. LA’s defensive rating of 102.0 is good enough for fifth in the NBA. They are contesting three point shots, causing a 2% drop in shooting percentage on three pointers defended versus unguarded.
The Clippers gave themselves the “Clamp City” nickname prior to the start of the season. If shots aren’t falling, they can easily fall back onto their defense. Patrick Beverley, Avery Bradley, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luc Mbah a Moute can switch and harass players all night. It’s simple. If you can’t score, don’t let the other team score either.
The three ball is bound to fall. Last season, the team shot 35.7% from deep, which while not great, would still be a vast improvement. Even if they do move towards the league average, it is nice to know that on off shooting nights that the Los Angeles Clippers have the ability to win regardless.