The LA Clippers made it a point to reinforce their backcourt with two strong defensive guards. The numbers show that their decision is paying off.
All offseason long, we only heard one thing about the LA Clippers: This defense is going to be good. And with visions of Clamp City in our heads, we all patiently awaited what promised to be one of LA’s best defensive seasons in recent memory.
Now five games into the season, it appears the Clippers — namely Patrick Beverley and Avery Bradley — are delivering on that promise.
At first, I thought it was just Beverley that was locking his opponents up. But as I read more quotes from Doc Rivers, I was interested in seeing how Bradley was doing as well. Here’s what I found.
This season, the LA Clippers have faced five different starting point guards: Jamal Murray, Dennis Schroder, James Harden, Elfrid Payton, and Chris Paul. Each has mostly had a less-than-average performance against the Clipper backcourt.
On opening night, Murray went 3-for-12. Schroder followed up by going 2-for-15. Harden made 11 of his 26 attempts. Payton, the surprising bright spot, connected on 7-of-11, and Paul had a 3-for-13 performance in last night’s blowout of the Houston Rockets.
Add all that up, and opposing starting point guards are shooting 26-for-77 from the floor, or 33.7 percent.
Much of this can be credited to Beverley and Bradley, though rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deserves some of the credit as well. He’s seen his fair share of minutes against starting points, and has done very well with his assignments.
It’s the same story for Bradley’s main assignments. The Clippers have faced four different shooting guards this season in Gary Harris, Terrance Ferguson, Eric Gordon (twice), and Jrue Holiday. Again, each has been sub-par against LA’s strong guards.
Harris made 6-of-16, Ferguson hit just 1-of-6, Gordon was 7-of-18 and 3-of-14, and Holiday connected on 2-of-15.
Combine those, and shooting guards are hitting on just 19-of-69 attempts against LA, or 27.5 percent. You follow?
In total, that’s 45/146, or 30.8 percent combined between both guards — well below the league average of 45.7 percent.
Of course, Clamp City couldn’t be completed unless it was an all-around effort. Otherwise it’d just be Clamp Town, or maybe even Clamp District. That’s where the rest of the team comes in.
Montrezl Harrell has arguably been one of LA’s top defensive players this season, and the numbers back up that claim.
Through five games, Harrell possesses the NBA’s top defensive box plus/minus rating, ranking just above Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and New Orleans’ Anthony Davis, respectively. He also owns the league’s eighth-best defensive rating and fourth-best block percentage. Given his 2.2 blocks per 20.8 minutes, it’s not hard to see why.
Time will only tell if these numbers and ranks keep up, but based on what we’ve seen so far, it might not be wrong to get your hopes up. Look for Beverley and Bradley to continue clamping up against John Wall, Bradley Beal, and the Washington Wizards this Sunday.