LA Clippers 2018-19: The Numbers in Review

3 of 4

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 03: Danilo Gallinari of the Los Angeles Clippers shoots the ball against P.J. Tucker #17 of the Houston Rockets during the first half at Staples Center on April 03, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images) /

Advanced Statistics

When it comes to advanced metrics, the story remains the same: really good offensive team that struggled defensively.

The Clips were 9th in offensive rating with 111.3, and they were 19th in defensive rating with 110.3, which gives us a net rating of 1.0 (13th in the league). If you’re unaware, net rating measures points scored (or allowed) per 100 possessions. So that tells us that, on average, the Clippers outscored their opponents by 1 point per 100 possessions. For context, the best net rating in the league was the Milwaukee Bucks with an 8.6.

Interestingly, our point differential can tell us a story. Our games averaged out to a little under 100 possessions per game, so our per-game point differential ended up at 0.8. There’s a formula often used to project a team’s wins, it goes like this:

Projected Win%=[(Net Points Differential)*2.7)+41]/82

To check, if a team scores the same exact number of points as they allow, their net point differential will be 0, and their projected win % is just 41/82, or 0.500. The Clippers had a 0.8, as mentioned above, so that leads to a projection of 43 wins. Of course, the Clippers actually won 48. So what happened?

Well, that projection assumes that very close games are essentially random. That’s why a point differential of 0 leads to a projection of 42-42. If every game is tight, it assumes you’ll win half and lose half.

So the Clippers outperformed their projection by 5 wins; that points to the Clippers being better than random in clutch games. That was exactly the case. LAC played in 43 games in which the score was within 5 points in the last 5 minutes. That’s 12th in the league in number of such games. But they were number 3 in wins and win percentage in those games (27 wins, for a .628 percentage)!

This doesn’t surprise Clippers fans, of course. The story of the year has been Lou Williams and the squad in crunchtime. Again, the point of these stats isn’t to convince you the team has been fun, it’s to talk about the numbers behind the fun. It’s a blast to be a fan of a team that has almost a 2 in 3 chance of winning every close game.

"View post on imgur.com"

The last thing to point out here is that the Clippers were very efficient scorers this year. True Shooting % measures scoring efficiency by modifying field goal percentage. In other words, it accounts for the fact that shooting 50% from 3 is a lot different scoring-wise than shooting 50% at the rim. In this metric, the Clippers were 5th in the league with a true shooting percentage of 57.5. For some context, the Warriors (of course) were first at 59.6, and the Knicks were last at 52.9.

Home/Clippers News