This Might Finally Be The Time To Believe In The Clippers

The L.A. Clippers’ scores on the Zenger-Folkman Likability Index, a set of factors and behaviors that spit out how affable you are, would probably fall somewhere along the “needs significant improvement” part of the spectrum. It’s a shame, really, because individually, they all seem like nice enough dudes with a good sense of humor.

DeAndre Jordan first stole our hearts when he made that video of himself crop-dusting unsuspecting bystanders at Venice Beach, and he and Chris Paul are both charming and hilarious in those State Farm commercials. Blake Griffin and his wry wit have likewise won us over with his various TV appearances over the years.

Yet collectively, when they are on the basketball court competing against other teams, they transform into a group of whining, petulant children, and their inability to get past the second round of the playoffs has earned them the label of chronic underachievers.

Last year was a particularly tough stretch for their public image. Griffin missed a significant portion of the season after breaking his hand during a fight with friend/equipment manager Matias Testi, and the team’s surprising success in the wake of that disaster had much of the basketball world wondering whether they’d simply be better off without him.

But unlike the year prior, when they blew a 3-1 lead to the Rockets in the West semifinals, last season’s first-round playoff exit was utterly out of their control. Both Paul and Griffin suffered series-altering injuries in the same game, clearing a path for the scrappy Blazers’ unlikely second-round berth. Yet even then, the rest of the team – especially Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford – stepped up and showed tremendous resilience against Portland in those last two games.

That energy has apparently spilled over into the new season. At 12-2, the Clippers are off to their best start in franchise history and currently sit atop the Western Conference standings. Before falling to the Grizzlies on Wednesday night, they were riding a seven-game win-streak, which included a huge blowout over the aforementioned Blazers, a win in San Antonio against the Spurs, and a victory over the Thunder to avenge their only loss of the season up to that point.

In short, they’re playing tremendous basketball, especially on the defensive end, where they boast the stingiest defense in the league as of writing (a paltry 96.5 points allowed per 100 possessions), and subsequently the best net rating (13.8). Paul currently leads the league in steals (three per game) and is top five in assists (8.6), while Jordan is top five in rebounds (12.2) and field goal percentage (59.6). Perhaps most important, as many have noticed both here and elsewhere, they seem to be having fun again.

After trouncing the lowly Nets 127-95 on Monday night, the had a better point-differential (183 total or 16.6 per game) than the Warriors did last season at that point when they were still undefeated. Think about that for a second.

Jordan was even able to transform a normally-grueling Hack-A-Shaq interlude against Minnesota on Saturday into pure entertainment. The Timberwolves apparently have some sort of free ice cream giveaway for fans if an opposing player misses two consecutive free throws in the fourth quarter, but despite sending Jordan to the line 16 times during that stretch, the career 42.2 percent shooter never missed two in a row, converting 10 of those attempts overall. He also let the crowd know about it the entire time.

But are all the good vibes in Southern California little more than a mirage? They’ve played the Blazers and Thunder twice already and got a decisive win over the Spurs earlier this month, so it’s not exactly fair to characterize their early season schedule as “soft.” They weren’t expected to get their first real test until they face the Cavs and Warriors during the first week of December, that is until they ran into a Grizzlies team on Wednesday that has historically given them fits over the years. In short, it’s still too early to tell, and despite that tough, crunch-time loss to Memphis, it’s a very good sign that they’re playing so free and loose.

Paul is still easily among the top two or three point guards in the NBA, Griffin is quickly working his way back to being one of the most versatile and dominant big men around, and Jordan is demonstrating an evolving knowledge of how to anchor a defense on multiple fronts. They also have one of the deadliest three-point shooters and floor spacers in J.J. Redick.

They rarely get mentioned as a “super team,” but their core group is a formidable force that stacks up against just about anyone. It’s a fact that begs the question as to whether they have sufficient depth on their roster beyond their starting five. Doc Rivers and his notoriously-nepotistic tendencies have in years past led to a Clippers bench comprised mostly of washed-up Celtics and Magic retreads, to varying degrees of success.

Former Warriors forward Marreese Speights has been a notable upgrade to their reserve unit, where he joins reigning Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford, and together with Rivers, Raymond Felton, and Wesley Johnson, the bench has played extremely well so far. As the Clippers’ second-most-used lineup, they boast a stunningly good net rating.

Granted, rotations tighten in the post-season when things slow down and stars log heavy minutes, but Rivers is going to need reliable options he can turn to, especially against the West elite. The early returns on this second unit have been promising, to say the least. Whether they can produce next spring when it matters most is another story entirely.

The Clippers are making us yearn to believe in them again, to entertain the notion that this might be the season they finally exorcise past demons and make a run to the conference finals, or better. You wouldn’t know it by their demeanor, but they’re under enormous pressure to do so. The very existence of Lob City depends on it.