NBA scores 2016: The Clippers are making us love them again

Yes, we know Los Angeles still hasn’t had playoff success. But there’s every reason other than that to believe in them.

Nov 6, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC

NBA: Los Angeles Clippers at San Antonio Spurs

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Clippers paradox has begun again, and now the NBA season really is back.

The Clippers are annihilating teams in the regular season again, but they still haven’t beat anyone in the playoffs, but they have to be great in the regular season to be able to do that, and they’re doing that thing again where they destroy teams in the regular season, but hey they still haven’t been past the semifinals, but they —

And on and on the loop goes. The Los Angeles Clippers still haven’t proved themselves in the playoffs; it’s true. But they rolled over the Spurs on Saturday in San Antonio by 24 points, and boy does it feel like we all should be hopping back on that bandwagon once again, trusting Doc Rivers in the passenger seat.

If the Clippers didn’t have their playoffs baggage, then there wouldn’t be any excuses. They’re a little older than they used to be — OK, that’s how humanity works, after all. But Chris Paul is the oldest, and older for him still is only 31. He was the conductor of Los Angeles’ beautiful offensive orchestra against the Spurs, scoring a simple nine points with 10 assists and eight rebounds while his team jetted out for 116 points total.

Blake Griffin’s 28 points don’t quite show how incredible a game he had Saturday — 26 of them came in the first half, and he scored them on 13-of-19 shooting in just 29 minutes. Griffin is back, in every sense of the word. His weird medley of skills is smushing together perfectly again, as he hits jumpers, sets up layups and is a near-automatic finisher around the rim.

The rest of the team was working on Saturday, too — a more-than-adequate bench (including 15 points from Mo Speights!), a quietly efficient shooting night from J.J. Redick and enough harrying defense on the Spurs that they committed 15 turnovers and Kawhi Leonard shot just 3-of-13. It’s always a question, but the bench really does look a bit stouter than years past, with Speights, Raymond Felton and even Brandon Bass joining the mix.

The Clippers keep running this core out there, year after year, only making these superficial changes around the edges. But can you blame them? It’s a fearsome four at their peak, and if they can just get enough help around them, you never know. Yet that nagging reminder of the playoffs always creeps back in, and the paradox starts up once again.

To be sure, the Clippers know this as well as anyone. This is their year, because it always is. You don’t need to remind them what’s at stake. It’s hard to see an outcome where Los Angeles prevails over the Warriors or the Cavaliers in the playoffs. But with a sound defeat of the Spurs and a 5-1 record, it’s reasonable to declare this the third-best team behind those two.

It’s all you can do to keep trying.

The poor 76ers lose again

CLEVELAND! Philadelphia almost beat the damn Cavaliers! And then, inevitably, the 76ers lost again, because that’s what they do. The 102-101 loss extends the opening of this season to an 0-6 start.

It’s the continuation of an ignoble streak: Philadelphia has lost 42 straight games in October and November, which counts back to an overtime win over Milwaukee in November ... 2013. Yes, it’s been three years since the 76ers won a game before December.

That streak will end very soon — maybe even Monday, at home against the somewhat depleted Utah Jazz. This year’s 76ers aren’t good yet, but they’re certainly better than the zombified rosters of years past. Joel Embiid was monstrous on Saturday, scoring 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting and four blocks. Despite the swats, his defense still lags noticeably — Philadelphia tried a duo of Ersan Ilyasova and Embiid in the backcourt at one point, which Cleveland skewered over roasting flames. But overall, this team has so much raw talent, and it’s bound to result in a few wins before long.

We still don’t appreciate LeBron James enough

We’ll stay in the same game to mention this: LeBron James is now the 10th-leading scorer in NBA history. And he’s 31 years old.

We marvel at James constantly, and sometimes it still feels like it isn’t enough. His accomplishments this past decade were damn near impossible, and we still should applaud him more frequently. Let’s do that.

Maybe the Thunder really can do this

The wins haven’t been the prettiest, and certainly the one loss to Golden State was a schoolyard knockdown of the highest degree. But here are the Thunder, still sitting pretty at 5-1, even without Russell Westbrook hitting his highest level of basketball criminality. In a 112-92 win against the Timberwolves Saturday, Westbrook only needed 28 points on 18 shots to confidently march on. He threw in eight assists and six rebounds because he’s still Westbrook — but just 28 minutes and two turnovers, too.

So he probably won’t average 35 points per game this year, like he did in the three games in October. But the Thunder may be a playoff team, and you know Westbrook would rather have that anyway.