On Feb. 8, the Los Angeles Clippers announced Blake Griffin would undergo elbow surgery and miss at least four to six weeks. That same day, they were smacked in the mouth by the Oklahoma City Thunder, losing 131-108. Things looked bleak for the Clippers, especially when looking at the treacherous upcoming schedule. It was reasonable to question whether the Clippers would stay in the playoff picture.
No Blake Griffin? No problem for the Clippers
Since losing Blake Griffin, the Los Angeles Clippers have reeled off four straight wins.
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
The Clippers have responded. And loudly. They’ve won four straight since that Thunder loss, winning by an average of 15.8 points per game. Three of those four wins came against Western Conference playoff teams. Now at 37-19, they’re fifth in the West -- they were tied for seventh after the Thunder loss.
Losing Griffin was supposed to be a big hit for the Clippers. When he’s on the court, the Clippers’ offensive rating bumps up from 110.7 to 114. It drops to 100.3 when he’s off it. Without Griffin, the team’s leading scorer, the Clippers lost 22.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 35.3 minutes per game. Yet the Clippers have played better basketball since he’s been gone.
It’s a small sample size, but in the five games without Griffin, the Clippers have the third-best net rating in the league at +7.5. In the four-game winning streak, it’s a ridiculous +15.8. On the season, their net rating is +6.5. They are already a great shooting team, hitting 47.1 percent of the shots they take, but they’re hitting 48.3 percent in the five-game stretch without Griffin. So far, they haven’t missed a beat without Griffin.
The biggest reason is DeAndre Jordan. The big man, who plays so well with Griffin, is averaging a monstrous 20.8 points, 20 rebounds and two blocks per game during the four-game winning streak. He has especially stepped up on offense, he’s only averaging 11 points per game this season.
Chris Paul has upped his game as well. He's dishing out 12.6 assists per game even though Griffin was his usual top target -- of the 9.5 assists per game he was averaging per game before Griffin's injury, four of them went to his favorite power forward each game. Now, Paul is involving more players on offense. And those players are taking advantage.
More than the stars, the Clippers role players have picked up the slack with Griffin's disappearance. J.J. Reddick is making 50 percent of his three-point shots over the past four games while scoring 18.5 points per. He's averaging 14.8 points per game on the season. In that same stretch, Jamal Crawford is scoring 22.8 points per game, up from the 16.3 he's averaging this season. Plus, any one of the Clippers is ready to step up: Austin Rivers dropped 28 points in a win over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.
The Clippers and coach Doc Rivers aren't calling the Blake Griffin injury a good thing, but he will admit it's helping his team find an identity. "Hopefully your team gets a little tougher mentally because they have to survive without their key guy," Rivers told the Los Angeles Times. "Hopefully a couple of guys get their rhythm, start playing better, get their confidence."
The confidence is there. They’ll need it. While they’ve survived without Griffin so far, the schedule isn’t slacking: nine of their next 11 games come against teams that would make the playoffs if the season ended today.
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