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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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LA Clippers (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Garrett Chorpenning

Likes: Quality wins

The LA Clippers have played their best when it matters most so far this season, already earning quality wins over teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks.

When you’re a title-contending team, those are the types of games you absolutely have to win, and the Clippers have been able to check that box early on. And when you consider the circumstances, those wins start to look even better.

LA didn’t have Paul George against the Lakers, Jazz or Raptors, and they didn’t have Kawhi Leonard in a tight win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, yet the team still found a way to knock off top contenders without both of their own stars.

Considering we’ve yet to see the Clippers at full strength, this trend of upending the league’s best should only continue as the season goes on.

Dislikes: Head-scratching losses

While it’s true that the LA Clippers have already beaten some of the best teams in the league, they’ve lost an almost equal number of games to lower-tier opponents that just don’t make any sense.

The first such loss came to the Phoenix Suns. Even though they’ve been better than expected so far this season, no one thought the Clippers’ first loss of the season would happen in Phoenix. The scoring came from weird places in that one, too — Dario Saric and Frank Kaminsky combined for 33 points, and Jevon Carter was shockingly efficient in the fourth start of his career.

There’s just no way that a team that beat the Los Angeles Lakers to start the season should lose to the Suns less than a week later.

Next up is the New Orleans Pelicans, who downed the Clippers 132-127 in Paul George’s debut. Again, the scoring came from unusual places — on a night when Brandon Ingram sat, Frank Jackson poured in 23 points off the bench in 22 minutes.

LA has since avenged this one, but it never should have happened in the first place.

Last on this list is the Clippers’ most recent loss, which came against the San Antonio Spurs. Very few things went LA’s way in this one, as George and Kawhi Leonard combined to score just 24 points on 10-of-34 shooting from the field.

As great as it is that the Clippers are beating top teams, they need to start putting forth a better effort against the lesser ones.

What I Want to See: A completely healthy team

The LA Clippers are 21 games into the season, and we’ve still not seen what this team looks like at full strength. Considering the Clippers have gone 15-6 to this point, that’s quite the statement.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have only played six games together, and all of them have been without Landry Shamet, who has been out since early November with an ankle injury. He’s an important piece to this team and one that would surely help bring up their sub-par numbers from three-point range.

There’s no set date for Shamet to return, but it does seem like he’ll be back in action by month’s end.

But now that Sham is on the verge of a comeback, the Clippers might be down JaMychal Green, who suffered a tailbone injury in LA’s win over the Washington Wizards. His injury isn’t as serious as Shamet’s, but he could still be out a few games.

The same goes for Rodney McGruder, who went down with a hamstring injury in last week’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Like Shamet, there’s no indication as to when he’ll return.

The Clippers will be fine so long as none of their main contributors miss an extended period of time, but it’s a shame that we still haven’t been able to see everything this team is capable of doing.

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