- LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
- It’s that time again …
Rematch. The Grizzlies and the Clippers open their first-round series Saturday night in Los Angeles, with the Grizzlies looking to avenge last spring’s seven-game loss against a team that seems to have their number. Here’s the first half of a two-part series breakdown. Look for the rest tomorrow morning:
1. The State of the Clippers: For much of this season, the Clippers were right there with the Heat, Thunder, and Spurs among the NBA’s elite. They went undefeated in December as part of a 17-game win streak and stood at 32-9 in mid-January, a pace that would have garnered them the top seed in the West. At that 32-9 peak, the Clippers boasted the league’s fourth best offense and third best defense. The Spurs were the only other team in the top five on both sides of the ball, and they were right behind the Clippers in both measures. At that time, the Clippers could rightfully claim to be the NBA’s best team and seemed on the short list of legitimate title contenders.
But then the Clippers went on a four-game losing streak and played .500 ball — 17-17 — for more than two months. During the 17-17 streak, the team’s offense fell off some (8th in that span), but the real story was on the other side of the ball, where the team plummeted to 20th.
This wobbly defense had the Clippers looking more like a potential first-round casualty than a championship hopeful, but, unfortunately for the Grizzlies, April has been a period of rebirth in Los Angeles. The Clippers have ended the season on a seven-game win streak. There are caveats aplenty: Beyond the microscopic sample size, five of the team’s seven opponents in this closing stretch have been lottery participants. But for whatever it’s worth, the Clippers have ended the season with their offense absolutely humming and their defense back to the high level displayed earlier in the season.
On the season, this Clippers team has been a little bit better on both sides of the ball than a year ago. They’re a little more turnover prone, but have also done a better job capitalizing on their athleticism with a sharp uptick in both fastbreak points and points in the paint.
They’ve turned over most of the bench that gave the Grizzlies so many problems last spring, but still own an edge — on paper at least — over the Grizzlies there, with two Sixth Man-caliber candidates in Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes. Perhaps most importantly, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin have had another year to hone their two-man-game chemistry and, after being banged up last April, will enter this postseason in what seems to be good health.
For a deeper look into how the Clippers look on the eve of the playoffs, check out this report from ESPN’s Clipperologist Kevin Arnovitz.