Clippers fall short to Davis-less Pelicans
- Updated: March 21, 2016
Prior to the Clippers’ March 15 loss to San Antonio, they hadn’t lost back to back games since mid December. Fast forward to mid March and the Clippers have lost four out of their last five including two back to backs, reminding us of the team that lost four out of five in mid November.
Sunday’s 109-105 loss to the Pelicans was made even more disappointing after New Orleans were without superstar Anthony Davis and adequate role players in Ryan Anderson and Norris Cole. As a result, the Pelicans effectively used three bench players (Alexis Ajinca played just two minutes) and the Clippers still came up short.
Chris Paul‘s statline of 24 points, 13 assists, six rebounds and four steals looked like one that would normally come with the W while his backcourt mate, J.J. Redick shot 9-11 including 4-5 from deep.
Generally, add those two together and the Clippers would win more often than not.
So where was the problem? Yep, you guessed it.
Wesley Johnson and Austin Rivers were a combined 3-19 from the field including 0-11 from behind the arc. The NBA’s concussion rules prevented Jeff Green from playing which meant Paul Pierce got the start that led to him contributing to the Clippers’ terrible 25% shooting from three-point range however despite their shooting woes, what was more concerning was their defense.
The Clippers have preached about becoming a good defensive team (which they are, well we thought were getting toward) and ensuring when their jumpshots are not falling, their defense will keep them in the game. However this was not to be. The Pelicans had better shooting percentages right across the board on Sunday and smashed the Clippers in rebounding 54-35 – again, I reiterate, Anthony Davis did not play, and while the Clippers forced 23 turnovers, they could only manage 12 fast break points.
When Chris Paul is your second highest rebounder for the night, that is simply not good enough.
While this may sound like a rant piece about the Clippers poor form of late, it’s not.
The Clippers have a very commendable 21-14 record on the road, 21-11 prior to this trip and while you can handle a loss at San Antonio, losses to Memphis and New Orleans – both without their best player – in the nature that it has occurred is unacceptable. Prior to their first loss of this stretch to Cleveland, Los Angeles was again tied in the Loss column with Oklahoma City however now they sit four games back with the chance to avoid Golden State until the Western Conference finals all but gone.
The Clippers have lost three in a row twice this season and now head to Oakland to take on Golden State. The same Golden State team who haven’t lost in their own building in their last 50 outings.
Golden State were kept to just 79 points in their loss at San Antonio on Friday and if the Clippers don’t pick up their top 10 defense, Steph and co. could drop 79 on the boys from Los Angeles in the first half.
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