The LA Clippers had a weird week. On Monday night, they beat the Miami Heat despite being down multiple starters. They lost to the Jazz while still shorthanded but were able to pull off a win in their second meeting of the week once Paul George and Kawhi Leonard returned. Then, on Sunday night, they dropped a close-fought game versus the Brooklyn Nets who were missing Kevin Durant.
Despite the loss to the Nets, the LA Clippers stayed near the top of the power rankings this week.
Let’s see where they stacked up this week.
ESPN Power Rankings: LA Clippers #2
ESPN actually gave the Clippers a bump up from the three spot last week, flipping them and the Lakers. It makes sense, given the Lakers dropped three out of their four games this week with Anthony Davis expected to miss extended time.
There’s not a lot said about the Clippers by Ohm Youngmisuk who did the ranking except that the Clips just need to continue to get healthy and build chemistry. Can’t say I disagree.
Bleacher Report Power Rankings: LA Clippers #4
Another rise for the LA Clippers, this time via Bleacher Report. Mo Dakhil makes a special note of Paul George and just how good he looked in his two games this week after missing seven in a row due to bone edema.
"Paul George averaged 24.5 points on 54.5 percent shooting from the field, six boards and six dimes in his two games back."
It hurt not having him out there on Sunday night to close the game versus Brooklyn and given how he played, the game could have ended very differently. Still, the team is in this for the long haul, and bringing George back slowly is the right decision.
CBS Sports Power Rankings: LA Clippers #3
The Clips drop one spot on CBS Sports with the Nets overtaking them. It’s more of the same here – the Clippers need to stay healthy.
NBA.com Power Rankings: LA Clippers #5
The biggest drop of the week came on NBA.com for the LA Clippers. They fell two spots from three to five. NBA.com notes that the Clippers have an issue with what to do at the five.
Marcus Morris has been effective on offense but the glass is a big issue.
"In 36 minutes with Morris at the five alongside Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers have scored 114 points on just 84 offensive possessions. But they’ve been hurt on the glass (grabbing just 42% of available rebounds) in 64 total minutes with Morris at the five, and after they tied the score on Sunday, Jordan reached over Morris for what turned out to be the game-winning tip-in."
The Clippers are going to have to find a balance between going small and sacrificing offense for one of Ivica Zubac or Serge Ibaka to be on the floor. The scoring of Morris is great but against teams with dominant bigs, the Clippers could have issues. Thankfully, there is still time to work on that.
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