That special team is still here
To say the LA Clippers defied the odds in 2018-2019 is an understatement. Projected to win anywhere from 30-35 games, they came together and got to winning right away.
After the first 21 games of the season had passed, the Clippers were in first place in the Western Conference with a 15-6 record. On their way there, they had knocked off some of the league’s strongest teams — the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors were all victims of the Clippers in that early stretch of the year, and each win made the Clippers look more and more legitimate.
However, it was clear that pace wasn’t entirely sustainable. LA began to fizzle out in December, and by the time Christmas came around, the Clippers were only a handful of games above .500. They would only win six games during the month, and things weren’t looking up entering the new year.
By mid-January, the Clippers were essentially a .500 team. A change needed to be made if they were going to remain in contention for the postseason, and on the morning of February 6, LA pulled the trigger.
Tobias Harris, Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott were sent to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for a few picks, Landry Shamet, Wilson Chandler and Mike Muscala. And thus, the future of the Clippers began to take shape.
Shamet was already a key contributor for the 76ers, who were 34-20 at the time of the trade. In 54 games, he had averaged 8.3 points per game and shot a blistering 40.4 percent from three-point range.
Chandler and Muscala were different stories, and for different reasons. Chandler had only appeared in 36 games for Philadelphia and had been battling injuries all year long. Still though, he was an effective piece for the Sixers, and he connected on 39.0 percent of his looks from range with the team. Muscala, on the other hand, was key in delivering a different piece to Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Lakers were looking to part ways with Ivica Zubac around the time of the trade deadline, as he was set to be a restricted free agent once July came around. Surprisingly, all they took back for him was Muscala. Again, another piece of the Clippers’ puzzle fell into place.
From the trade deadline and on, the Clippers made an improbable run. And it wasn’t just their new acquisitions that were stepping up, either. Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, and Patrick Beverley all had fantastic second halves, and the rest of the squad followed suit.
LA closed the regular season on a 16-7 run, locking up the Western Conference’s eighth seed in the process. Once again, they had their doubters — no one was giving the Clippers a chance against the top-seeded, defending champion Golden State Warriors, especially now that DeMarcus Cousins had been fully integrated into the starting rotation.
Once again, the Clippers proved them wrong.
LA was flattened in Game 1, losing to the Warriors by 17 points in a game that many considered to be a precursor for the rest of the series. Fortunately, that wasn’t exactly the case.
As we all know by now, the Clippers overcame a 31-point deficit in Game 2, on the road, against a fully healthy Warriors team. Shamet knocked down the game-winning triple, but Williams, Harrell and Beverley were arguably the more important players. Sweet Lou had a game-high 36 points and 11 assists, Trezz wasn’t far behind with 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Pat held Kevin Durant, of all players, to just eight field goal attempts.
The Clippers wouldn’t end up winning the series, but that wasn’t what mattered. What did was the fact that virtually every analyst, every person working in the field predicted the Clippers would be swept. And when push came to shove, the Clippers shoved back — hard.
Obviously, this year’s roster is very different from the one that managed 48 wins in the historically stacked Western Conference in 2019. And while a lot of the glory will be given to the two stars that front it, it’s important that we don’t forget about the players that made last year’s team so special — especially since most of them are still here. Considering how unwilling they were to go down in defeat, you can guarantee that at least one analyst will think twice about their win-loss projections in 2020.