Unforgiving schedule suggests January could make or break Clippers’ season
By Jerry Trotta
By failing to find an answer for Anthony Edwards and unable to overcome a lopsided second quarter in which they were outscored by 13 points, the Los Angeles Clippers dropped a winnable game to the Timberwolves on Monday.
The loss sent the Clips tumbling back to .500, a record that’s good enough for the No. 8 seed in the top-heavy Western Conference.
While it’s encouraging LA is only a half-game out of the No. 5 seed, they haven’t won back-to-back games since mid-December and are clearly feeling the absences of superstars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
Speaking of which, is it possible the month of January could make or break the Clippers’ season? While the West is full of underachievers, Los Angeles would like to avoid a potential play-in scenario at all costs.
Unfortunately for them, however, they won’t have consecutive days of rest until the calendar turns to February.
Clippers don't have back to back days off the rest of January.
— Law Murray 📱 (@LawMurrayTheNU) January 5, 2022
Ty Lue suggests that team may have to cut shootarounds and have more 30-minite practices to account for it. Says team has been hurt on both ends of the floor because of lack of execution and time together.
The month of January could define the Clippers’ 2021-22 season.
While the Clippers’ road wins over Boston and Brooklyn last week were the high points of the season, fans shouldn’t get too comfortable.
After all, the club still has 15 games remaining on its unforgiving January slate. They’ll conclude the month with eight straight road games, seven of which will be played on the opposite side of the country.
All in all, it’s a 13-day road trip during which they’ll play every other day. In the month’s final week, LA will play five games in seven days while accounting for travel to and from Washington, Orlando, Miami, Charlotte and Indiana.
That’s not to say the first half of January will be a walk in the park, either. With upcoming tilts against the two-seed Suns, streaking Grizzles and Nikola Jokic-led Nuggets, the undermanned Clippers will be put to the test.
The Clippers have now fallen to the 7th seed. They're .5 away from the 5th seed and 1.5 away from the 9th seed. You need every win you can get against bad teams, otherwise things slip quickly. Especially with them having the 2nd hardest schedule left in the league.
— Farbod Esnaashari (@Farbod_E) January 4, 2022
The Hawks are sprinkled in there, too. For all of their struggles to start the campaign, Atlanta is better than their 16-20 record and just welcomed Trae Young and Clint Capela back from health and safety protocols.
This would be a brutal stretch if one of Leonard or George were healthy. With both all-world players still recovering from injury, fans should probably temper expectations for the next 30 days and hope George is fully recovered from his torn elbow ligament and ready to lead the squad into February and beyond.
If the Clippers can get through January with a .500 record, well, Ty Lue should take a bow. Assuming they’d be punching above their weight in that regard, a 6-9 finish over the final 15 games seems more realistic.
Anything worse than that, coupled with other teams making the most of their own lighter schedules, could see Los Angeles with a lot of ground to make up once George returns to the lineup.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
