February is now here, so it’s time to take a look back at the Good, Bad, and Ugly storylines from the Clippers in January.
The Good
Kawhi Leonard: After missing most of October and November with injuries, and a good but not great December, Kawhi exploded in January with superstar-level performances on a nightly basis. Kawhi upped his minutes to over 35 per game, and averaged 27.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 4.0 assists, all with a ridiculous 66% True Shooting and solid (at worst) defense. Simply put, he was the best player on the court in almost every one of the 12 games he appeared in, and his return to dominance opened up everything for he Clippers on offense. Even better, various elements of his game that were moribund earlier in the season returned in closer to full strength form in January – he shot 60 threes in the month compared to 62 across the first three months of the season, and got to the line 73 times against 64. Kawhi also began dunking again, showing his full confidence in his legs. This version of Kawhi can be the best player on a championship team, and that’s the best news of the season so far.
Clippers Offense: After sitting at the bottom of the league in offensive rating for the first two plus months of the season, the Clippers’ offensive rating in January was 9th in the NBA. That’s still not to the level it was in the 2020 and 2021 campaigns, when the Clippers boasted a top-five offense, but it is a vast improvement. Kawhi’s play combined with an explosive month from Norm Powell (18.5 points on 66% True Shooting) and better lineups from Ty Lue have boosted the Clippers’ offense and got it out of the rut. There’s more paint attack, much more ball movement, and sharper shooting. If the Clippers keep playing at this level offensively and sharpen up on defense (more on that below), they should be able to maintain their spot in the Western Conference.
Flailing Western Conference: Despite being under .500 just a couple short weeks ago, the Clippers are suddenly the 4th seed in the West, and only two games back of 3rd. While the top two seeds are almost certainly out of the picture, the Clippers can absolutely claim homecourt in the playoffs due to the Pelicans’ slide without Zion and the Kings not being able to gain clear separation in the standings. A lot still needs to go right for the Clippers, but after months of woe and despair, they’re sitting fairly pretty in the standings – for now.
The Bad
The Resilient Western Conference: The bad news about the clustered West is that the Clippers are only 2 games up on the 10th seed, and just 3 up on 12th. Any sort of slide and they could wind up back in the play-in, or even out of the postseason entirely. The only team that seems like it might put on the tank engine is the Jazz, with the Thunder as an outside possibility. That means there are at least 11 teams jockeying for postseason position, and most of them are likely to be aggressive in adding players at the deadline. The Clippers are more talented than most of the teams below them, but with how congested the West is, it might not matter as much. The Clippers simply have to stay locked in and focused until they secure a playoff spot, preferably one with homecourt advantage.
Luke Kennard’s Aggression Level: Luke Kennard is shooting 45.3% from three this year, a truly incredible mark. However, he’s only taking 3.9 of them per game, and just 6.5 per 36 minutes. Someone his caliber as a shooter, with his quick shot release, simply needs to be more aggressive in calling his own number. Too frequently Luke will pass up decent, semi-open looks, only for the Clippers to never get a better chance at a bucket. If he’s going to stick in a fully healthy Clippers’ rotation as a key piece, he needs to not just be a three-point sniper, but someone who goes out and hunts threes.
The Ugly
The Defensive Slippage: The Clippers to start the season were a tale of two sides of the ball. They ranked right near or at the bottom of the league in offensive rating well into December, but were wining games through a top-three defense. Well, that switch flipped in January, as the Clippers had a putrid 26th ranked Defensive Rating in the month, ahead of only the Rockets, Spurs, and Pistons (the three worst teams in the NBA) and the Mavs. Considering that most of the Clippers’ injuries outside of Paul George were to less defensively apt players (Wall, Kennard, Morris), the defensive slippage can therefore be placed on effort and attention to detail, not personnel. Too often the Clippers wouldn’t rotate well, or needlessly foul, or not get back in transition. Their offense coming around is great, but they need to stop their slide on defense to remain towards the top of the standings.
