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Takeaways from the first quarter of the LA Clippers’ season

By Brian Cullen

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 1: Montrezl Harrell #5 of the LA Clippers stands at center court during the game against the Washington Wizards on December 1, 2019 at STAPLES Center 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. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 1: Montrezl Harrell #5 of the LA Clippers stands at center court during the game against the Washington Wizards on December 1, 2019 at STAPLES Center 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. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 10: Ivica Zubac #40 of the LA Clippers and Maurice Harkless #8 of the LA Clippers shares a laugh during the game against the Denver Nuggets during the preseaspn on October 10, 2019 at STAPLES Center 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. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 10: Ivica Zubac #40 of the LA Clippers and Maurice Harkless #8 of the LA Clippers shares a laugh during the game against the Denver Nuggets during the preseaspn on October 10, 2019 at STAPLES Center 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. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) /

A few of our writers got together to talk about our takeaways from the first quarter of the LA Clippers’ season. We discuss our likes, dislikes, and what we would like to see in the next quarter of the season.

Welcome to Four Quarters, a series we are doing here at Clipperholics. Each part of this series will feature four of our writers discussing a given topic regarding LA Clippers news, opinions, rumors, and everything in between. In this third episode of the series, we have two additional contributions from some familiar faces in the Clippers world to take us into 2OT.

Today, Garrett Chorpenning, Ryan Snellings, Brian Cullen, Joseph Raya-Ward, and our special guests and friends Charles Mockler and William Updyke from the Locked On Clippers Podcast will be giving their opinions on what they’ve seen through the first 21 games of the year.

Brian Cullen

Likes: Taking care of home

The LA Clippers have had a nice home-heavy schedule in the first quarter of the season with 13 of their first 21 games being on their court. The team has a set a franchise-best home season opening home record of 12-1. The singular loss in LA came at the hands of the reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. That was a competitively played game and the Clippers lost by only 5 points missing both their superstars in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. So we can count that as a moral victory right? I don’t care, I’m doing it anyway.

According to Basketball Reference the team is also leading the league in home attendance; a surprising fact considering the other duo of stars down the hall. All of this is to say that resting players and keeping them fresh for the postseason is very important, but if the first quarter of this season shows us anything, it’s that there is value in chasing a top-seed in the conference come playoff time. The Clippers appear to love playing at home and feed off their hometown fans.

When this team takes the floor in LA they have four players scoring over 20 points a game in Leonard, George, Williams, and Harrell. They also have six players grabbing over 6 rebounds a game in those contests. The three-point shooting has been great in Staples as well. Of the 7 players attempting three shots or more from deep they shooting an average of 34.2%, and that includes Kawhi Leonard and JaMychal Green shooting 28.1% and 26.4% respectively. Both Leonard and Green have career 3P% above 35% and should find their rhythm from deep as the season continues.

Dislikes: Struggles on the road

Conversely, the Clippers have only played eight games on the road thus far and have posted a 3-5 record in that time. Only one of those losses came at the hands of both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Considering that game was in San Antonio the day after Thanksgiving we can blame it on a gluttonous food hangover right? Right.

The road sample size has been small, and for the most part without Kawhi, but we’re all going to be splitting hairs here to find our dislikes so far in the season. Truth be told, the team looks good. Like really good. With two superstars in their primes and the best bench duo maybe ever, this team should be able to right the ship on the road. Pun absolutely intended.

What I Want to See in the Next Quarter: Practice and chemistry

With everything said above the team hasn’t quite found it’s chemistry yet. They’re winning games, yes, but if you look at the turnovers year over year there has been an increase since the last season. I truly think this has more to do with a lack of continuity due to injuries than it does to a lack of facilitator.

I am hoping the next quarter of the season affords the team to get some actual team practices in to help build a system rather than relying on just pure, raw talent to win games. This chemistry will prove to be important as the team heads into a road-heavy stretch of their schedule. Eleven of the team’s next twenty games will be on the road including four sets of back-to-backs. Trust in a system and each other will be a key factor in that stretch.

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