The Clippers should not be this good without Kawhi. Update: Kawhi to return Jan 4th vs the Hawks

[OkcSinceSGA]

Read on Twitter

Pretty ridiculous. They are the 4th ranked defense after tonight, maybe even 3rd. I knew they would be a top 5 defense but not 5th seed about 17 games in. Zero games from Kawhi, no Powell last couple games. They are 10-7 and half of their wins have been vs more talented teams.

Warriors 2x, Kings 2x, Nuggets, Magic are their better wins, all pretty convincingly for the most part.

They are really putting the screws to opposing stars. They have been up by double digits every single game besides one (a few they choked late to more talented teams). They’ve won several by blowout margins over good teams. They are 2-0 vs the Warriors who are the #1 seed.

Tonight they held the Kings who had been scorching hot on offense the prior few to 29 in the first half, the lowest for an NBA game this season.

Did you expect them to compete to this level without Kawhi?

[Roscoe Sheed]

they deserve a lot of credit for being such a scrappy team this year- everybody is hustling. They brought in guys like Dunn, Jones, and KPJ who put in solid effort on both sides of the court. JVG was a nice addition to the coaching staff too. Bringing back Batum was smart as well as he is still solid on the court and is great locker room guy.

[Tor_Raps]

It's crazy considering how inefficient Harden has been too.

[HardenGoat]

They seem to enjoy playing together. That shows up as effort. Everyone is getting touches and being involved. Norm got injured and next man up is producing (Coffey). KPJ and Bamba are improving. Seems to be a well coached team so far. Good stuff and fun to watch.

[OkcSinceSGA]

It's crazy considering how inefficient Harden has been too.

This is very accurate. He’s been putrid with offensive efficiency and turnovers. But teams are still dumb enough to double and trap him constantly, so it’s letting him makeup for these issues with his playmaking.

[zimpy27]

Scrappy Clippers teams are the most enjoyable Clippers teams

[BruttoNostra]

Read on Twitter

Pretty ridiculous. They are the 4th ranked defense after tonight, maybe even 3rd. I knew they would be a top 5 defense but not 5th seed about 17 games in. Zero games from Kawhi, no Powell last couple games. They are 10-7 and half of their wins have been vs more talented teams.

Warriors 2x, Kings 2x, Nuggets, Magic are their better wins, all pretty convincingly for the most part.

They are really putting the screws to opposing stars. They have been up by double digits every single game besides one (a few they choked late to more talented teams). They’ve won several by blowout margins over good teams. They are 2-0 vs the Warriors who are the #1 seed.

Tonight they held the Kings who had been scorching hot on offense the prior few to 29 in the first half, the lowest for an NBA game this season.

Did you expect them to compete to this level without Kawhi?

"Better than" in the tweet needs a context.
Only 1.5 games separate the 5th-placed Clippers and 12th-placed Kings.
Clippers with a 10-7 record played 11 Home games and only 6 Away ones.
I'll give them credit for being better than I expected, but their current place in the playoff race isn't sustainable.
My end of season projection for them is bottom part of play-in (best case) or lottery (worst case). Feel free to quote me in the end of season, I will own it if I'm wrong.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Read on Twitter

Pretty ridiculous. They are the 4th ranked defense after tonight, maybe even 3rd. I knew they would be a top 5 defense but not 5th seed about 17 games in. Zero games from Kawhi, no Powell last couple games. They are 10-7 and half of their wins have been vs more talented teams.

Warriors 2x, Kings 2x, Nuggets, Magic are their better wins, all pretty convincingly for the most part.

They are really putting the screws to opposing stars. They have been up by double digits every single game besides one (a few they choked late to more talented teams). They’ve won several by blowout margins over good teams. They are 2-0 vs the Warriors who are the #1 seed.

Tonight they held the Kings who had been scorching hot on offense the prior few to 29 in the first half, the lowest for an NBA game this season.

Did you expect them to compete to this level without Kawhi?

"Better than" in the tweet needs a context.
Only 1.5 games separate the 5th-placed Clippers and 12th-placed Kings.
Clippers with a 10-7 record played 11 Home games and only 6 Away ones.
I'll give them credit for being better than I expected, but their current place in the playoff race isn't sustainable.
My end of season projection for them is bottom part of play-in (best case) or lottery (worst case). Feel free to quote me in the end of season, I will own it if I'm wrong.

http://www.espn.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

After tonight they’ve also played the 3rd most difficult schedule so far… you may wanna factor that. Them being a bit over .500 is not only sustainable, it’s realistic. If they hadn’t choked a few games away despite being up 10-15 late they could very easily have a record of 13-4 or something.

Seeding wise, yes 5-12 seeds will be tight so seeding itself is less relevant. But being as good as they’ve been… can’t deny it’s anything less than impressive. They are off to a better start than last year when they won 51 and that was with Kawhi.

[SweaterBae]

Read on Twitter

Pretty ridiculous. They are the 4th ranked defense after tonight, maybe even 3rd. I knew they would be a top 5 defense but not 5th seed about 17 games in. Zero games from Kawhi, no Powell last couple games. They are 10-7 and half of their wins have been vs more talented teams.

Warriors 2x, Kings 2x, Nuggets, Magic are their better wins, all pretty convincingly for the most part.

They are really putting the screws to opposing stars. They have been up by double digits every single game besides one (a few they choked late to more talented teams). They’ve won several by blowout margins over good teams. They are 2-0 vs the Warriors who are the #1 seed.

Tonight they held the Kings who had been scorching hot on offense the prior few to 29 in the first half, the lowest for an NBA game this season.

Did you expect them to compete to this level without Kawhi?

"Better than" in the tweet needs a context.
Only 1.5 games separate the 5th-placed Clippers and 12th-placed Kings.
Clippers with a 10-7 record played 11 Home games and only 6 Away ones.
I'll give them credit for being better than I expected, but their current place in the playoff race isn't sustainable.
My end of season projection for them is bottom part of play-in (best case) or lottery (worst case). Feel free to quote me in the end of season, I will own it if I'm wrong.

http://www.espn.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

After tonight they’ve also played the most difficult schedule so far… you may wanna factor that. Them being a bit over .500 is not only sustainable, it’s realistic. If they hadn’t choked a few games away despite being up 10-15 late they could very easily have a record of 13-4 or something.

Seeding wise, yes 5-12 seeds will be tight so seeding itself is less relevant. But being as good as they’ve been… can’t deny it’s anything more than impressive. They are off to a better start than last year when they won 51 and that was with Kawhi.

Oh good grief, let's not play the what if game for one team only.

[zimpy27]

.

When are we getting ClipsFanSincePGLeft?

[Mad Guru]

Their defense is very very impressive

[doogie_hauser]

The whole Ty Lue is a bad/overrated coach theory is sure as hell being blown out of the water this season

He is more valuable then any player on their roster.

[RB34]

Lue is and has always been a good coach. Harden is a great facilitator, Zu is a monster on the boards. Everyone else is at least 6’4 I think, long, rangy and can defend.

[Lalouie]

everything in context

they are doing well without kawhi in a parity year that is upside down

even the lakers look relatively solid

that the clips are also without pg makes this a pretty good story

but everything in context

[Onlytimewilltel]

Their defense is very very impressive

Yup, I see no one is giving any credit to JVG here. I think he’s playing a decent role in them being this good, especially playing hard defensively. He’s gotten a lot of our average teams before and got them to play scrappy and hustle on defense.

[clippertown]

It's crazy considering how inefficient Harden has been too.

Not just Harden. Kevin Porter Jr has been shooting terribly also. These are the two best offensive players next to Powell.

[LarsV8]

Harden has always been the ultimate floor raiser.

[lambchop]

Not surprising. They're good every single year without Kawhi. While the role players take care od the regular season duties, the franchise is hoping Kawhi will be healthy for the POs. He then plays a few games before inevitably needing his next surgery.

[sisibilio]

It's been a weird season so far. I'm not complaining.

[Lo Wang]

They don't have a choice but to be good. If they tank, they owe the pick to OKC. It's really do or die for them this year. I'm pretty sure the higher ups told Lue tanking is not an option.