LA Clippers: Three things worth noting through seven games

The LA Clippers are coming off their fifth win in seven games, and although it is still early, now is the most opportune time to see how everything looks.

The LA Clippers just completed their seventh game of the season, and it ended with some sweet revenge against one of two teams that had defeated them before. And although that is a nice gesture and all, how have the Clippers played so far? And what does their schedule look like for the next seven games?

Through seven, the LA Clippers have a record of 5-2 with a divisional record of 2-1. Although it isn’t as perfect or easy as most expected, the majority of their wins so far haven’t been easy. Compared to a few of their counterparts in the Western Conference, the Clips have actually looked pretty tame. So what’s going on? Is there any one thing that has made those wins hard-fought and the losses heartbreaking? There are two things that have ailed this Clippers team so far, and both of them could be combated with some minor adjustments and more playing time. There is also one factor helping to keep the team afloat despite those two struggles. Let’s start by looking at how the Clippers start off games.

Rough Starts

It’s pretty clear that this LA Clippers team is even better from last year with how dominant the bench is against any team, but the bench can only take the team so far. The fact that the team starts so poorly that they need to bring in Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell so quickly is worrying. In their first game against the Lakers, it was 13-2 before the bench came in to gradually save that game with a little under 8:00 to go in the first quarter. It was 10-3 Phoenix pretty early on in that loss, and their other loss saw them let Utah drop thirty-three points in the first.

There has to be a better medium than allowing the other team to ball out before Lou, Trezz, and Kawhi Leonard eventually save the game. It’s amazing that the LA Clippers can drop forty points in the fourth against Utah and forty-six against the Warriors in the third, but it’s unrealistic to expect forty points in the latter half of each game to keep the team afloat. The chemistry and passion have to be there as early as the tip-off and they need to carry through until the last buzzer. A single quarter where the team just sleeps and barely drops twenty will not cut it.

Perhaps it is too early to complain about this just yet as the chemistry is still developing and the other superstar in Paul George is out, but it’s a severe problem that needs fixing eventually. Early momentum that carries the team, that is what is critical. And hopefully, that early momentum will help the defense stay consistent considering their early struggles as well.

Room for Defensive Improvement

Ironically, this team is nick-named “Clamp City” even though their defense hasn’t consistently been able to clamp down just yet. The worst game for the defense so far was that first loss against Phoenix, and that saw the defense let up 130 points. Thirty-nine points for the Suns in the fourth are unacceptable, and it was getting to the point where the defense would break down and let up an easy three-pointer without any chance to get a block. That kind of play is what kills all momentum for the team.

Outside of that game, the defense has consistently let up only twenty or so points in each quarter, but the team’s only other loss came against the Jazz team that burned them for thirty-three and thirty-eight points in the first and third quarters. It’s crucial that the defense clamps down in every quarter, not just two out of four. It goes back to bringing in good momentum to get a good start, they have to bring a hundred percent from start to finish, no excuses. There is room for mistakes, but there is no room for being outplayed for half the game, and that is something that needs to be fixed early on.

In their past four games, however, the Clippers defense only allowed over one hundred points once, so the defense has shaped up enough to start giving them the dominance they are capable of. There are still plenty of improvements to be made over time, but if Ivica Zubac, Harrell, and Kawhi continue to lead this defense, things should hopefully smooth out on their own as the team continues to play together. So far, the bench has been off the hook thanks to more time together, so perhaps the defense will take from that.

Fuego Bench in LA

The main storyline of this Clippers team so far is how amazing the bench has been alongside Kawhi, and that isn’t a surprise to anyone that watched the team last year. Williams, Harrell, Jerome Robinson, Maurice Harkless, and JaMychal Green have basically been the spark plugs to wake the team up when they start to fade. In their first game of the season, the Clips bench dropped sixty points against the Lakers to impress early on, and it’s been incredible to watch them night in and night out since then.

All five of those aforementioned bench players have started a combined one game and have 400 points in seven games played. If that number doesn’t inspire some awe from NBA fans, nothing will. Kawhi, Lou, and Montrezl together make up 453 points out of the 790 points scored in total by the entire team, so there aren’t any signs of a slow offensive start for the Clips. In fact, the offense has been the greatest strength of this team thus far.

The defense is still shaping up and the chemistry takes a while to kick in during games, but that doesn’t hurt nearly as much as it could when one considers that the bench can easily help to drop thirty-five points in the first quarter as they did to Golden State. Perhaps this is the one time in which one is better than two considering that one major upside outweighs two fixable downsides.

In closing, the LA Clippers are 5-2 through their first seven, and that’s a solid place to be in this incredibly tough Western Conference. Their two losses came against a much-improved Suns team and a Jazz team they promptly took revenge on just four days later. The defense isn’t as consistent as it could be yet, and the starters aren’t playing as great as they are capable of, but those two negatives are fixable with more playing time and some further development of the team’s chemistry. The bench has been on fire and it keeps the team in games where they haven’t played their best game so that one positive is really outweighing the two negatives. Here is to hoping that the next seven games see the Clippers improving together even further.