28 games into the season, the Los Angeles Clippers do not appear to be title contenders. While their record of 16-12 has them in fourth place in the west, the team has not met the expectations that they had for themselves. The Clippers came within one quarter of making the Western conference finals last summer, before their massive choke job when the Rockets won the final 3 games of the series to advance in the playoffs.
The Rockets have been struggling this season too, and came into their game against the Clippers last night at 13-14. One would expect that the Clippers would look to seek revenge on the Rockets for ruining their title hopes. However, the Clippers came out flat, looking uninterested on defense. The Clippers fell to the Rockets, 107-97. That 10-point difference doesn’t indicate how lopsided the game really was though. The Rockets controlled the game throughout, leading by as many as 22 points.
Star point guard Chris Paul was not happy about the loss, and was rather harsh on the team after the game. From Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times:
“We’re not a team that anybody needs to be worried about, I’ll tell you that,” Clippers point guard Chris Paul said. “Not right now.”
I think that Paul was exaggerating a bit. Certainly, plenty of teams in the league should worry about playing the Clippers, even on their worst night. The talent is there, they just need to put in the effort.
DeAndre Jordan sounded off on the loss as well. Again, from Bolch:
“We came out with no energy, no intensity on both ends of the floor,” Clippers center DeAndre Jordan said. “This loss was on the starters. We came out and we didn’t establish anything, really.”
Jordan is right. They didn’t have energy or intensity. The Clippers looked to be an improved team this summer, bringing in Paul Pierce and Lance Stephenson. However, it looks like Pierce’s age has finally caught up to him, and Stephenson looks like Charlotte Lance, not Indiana Lance.
Head coach Doc Rivers mentioned the team’s lack of energy as well. It’s pretty clear that that was the problem. This can be a very dangerous team when they’re firing on all cylinders. Right now, though, they’re firing on almost no cylinders. The Clips need to get it together. Luckily, it’s still early in the season, so they have plenty of time to do just that.
