The first half of the 2020-2021 NBA season has been chaotic for all teams in the league, including the LA Clippers. The Clips have experienced some huge wins this season that proves they are an elite program.
Several players deserve serious credit for the LA Clippers’ success in the first half of the season. These players helped the Clippers achieve the sixth-best record in the league and the fourth-best in the Western Conference. They are four games behind the first-place team in the West in the Utah Jazz and only half a game from the third-place team in the Los Angeles Lakers.
There have been some up-and-down performances all season for the Clippers. Take away some mental fatigue, some injury concerns, and relapse in clutch performances with games so close to each other, and the Clippers are one of the most consistent teams in the NBA.
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As a team, the Clippers have the seventh-best scoring offense in the league with an average of 114.8 points per game. They have the top-ranked three-point shooting team in the league with a 41.9%. Defensively, the Clippers are ranked sixth in the nation in points allowed per game (109.4). It isn’t hard to have a high scoring offense when you have the best two-way forwards in the league in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
The grind during the season is the essential process of figuring out how the LA Clippers will play during the playoffs. As seen in the first half of the season, there have been plenty of players who have contributed in their role to help the Clippers become an elite team in the league. Even though we are only giving out 6 awards, the entire team has come together to get the LA Clippers where they are today.
Let’s give out some individual awards for the LA Clippers at the halfway point
Some of these will be our counterpart of the awards given at the end of the NBA season, while others will be awards of our own creation. Let’s start with the MVP and the Defensive Player of the Year.
LA Clippers Most Valuable Player: Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard has been one of the most talented and consistent players on both ends of the court for a long time. This season, we have seen Leonard as a leader and a more outspoken player than ever before. Those attributes have translated on the court for the Clippers this season in a tremendous way.
Leonard currently leads the team in points per game (26.6), defensive rebounds per game (5.3), and steals per game (1.5). In the 30 games he has played this season, the Klaw has scored 30 or more games in ten of them. The Clippers are 8-2 when Leonard had a 30-point scoring game. Leonard has accounted for 21 games with a positive plus/minus performance on the court.
Only three of the nine games where Leonard has encountered a negative plus/minus are games where the Clippers won. His impact on the team on the offensive and defensive end of the court tremendously impact the Clippers at an MVP level. He is currently ninth in the KIA MVP race on NBA.com by Michael Wright.
LA Clippers Defensive Player of the Year: Patrick Beverley
With two star playmakers in Leonard and George on both ends of the court, there is one player that is likely the best defensive player on the team. Last season, Patrick Beverley was named NBA All-Defensive Team for the second time in his career. This season, Beverley wanted to continue his dominance on the court.
In the 28 games played this season, Beverley has only encountered eight games where he had a negative plus/minus performance on the court. Through the first half of the season, Beverley has accounted for 0.9 steals per game and 0.8 blocks per game, which is a good number for a point guard.
Beverley’s defensive rating is 105.1, which is the lowest among all of the starters and all of the players who have played at least an average of 13 minutes. He is one of the most efficient defensive guards in the league. At the rate he is playing, Beverley is in line to earn his second NBA All-Defensive First-Team.