Clippers boast wildly impressive achievement to begin season

Heading into the current season, the expectations were low for the LA Clippers. After losing Paul George, the near-consensus opinion was that they would take a step back and struggle in a loaded Western Conference. Some even thought they were primed to miss the playoffs outright with it being announced that Kawhi Leonard would miss the early part of the year.

Fast forward just over one month into the season, and the Clippers have far outdone their preseason projections. As of this writing and headed into Monday night's matchup with the Boston Celtics, LA has 11 wins and seven losses on their resume, including notching wins in their last five games in a row.

In those wins, the Clippers have been absolutely dominating at the defensive end. They have held each of their last four opponents under 100 points, a very rare achievement in the modern NBA. LA has won with their defense all season, and it is one of the main reasons they have built themselves into a legitimate threat in the West, even with Kawhi sitting on the sideline for every game so far.

As we reflect on what the Clippers have accomplished to this point in the year, one number stands out among the rest as an overall indicator of their success. After taking a double-digit lead against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, LA has now held a lead of at least 10 points in 16 of the 18 games they have played.

The Clippers have led by double digits in 16 of 18 games

That number marks the most double-digit leads of any NBA team this season. Leading by 10 or more in 16 games does of course mean some of those leads have been squandered and became a loss, but it is the pure fact that the Clippers have been able to get up by that much consistently that is the biggest eyebrow-raiser.

The truth is, the Clippers were underrated by the masses coming into this season. Losing the services of a star like Paul George is always going to gain more attention than the subsequent addition of solid role players who have clearly more than filled the void George left behind.

When a team has gotten 18 games under their belt, you begin to see what they are truly about. For the Clippers, it is clear at this point that Norman Powell's hot take was correct, and the loss of George truly was "addition by subtraction." The Clippers are a rock-solid basketball team, and they will likely continue to achieve more than what is expected of them.