LA Clippers’ Depth Getting 1st Real Test with Blake Griffin, Chris Paul Out

LOS ANGELES — If you took last spring’s six-game playoff loss to the Portland Trail Blazers and stretched it out over approximately 30 games, it would look a lot like the Los Angeles Clippers’ 2016-17 season so far.

The hot start: The Clippers jumped out in that series with a pair of 20-point blowouts and began the current NBA campaign a league-best 14-2.

The road slowdown: L.A. lost Games 3 and 4 in Portland and dropped five of seven between late November and early December, including three straight away from home.

The injuries: first Blake Griffin, then Chris Paul, with J.J. Redick limited by discomfort of his own.

“That’s the sucky part of the game,” Jamal Crawford recently stated. “I think when we’re all kids, we just want to go out there and play. You don’t even think about injuries. But the reality of it is, it happens and we just have to, everybody has to, step up until these guys get back.”

Last year’s Clippers succumbed to the Blazers in six games, but got more than a glimpse of what their supporting cast could do when called upon. Austin Rivers battled through a busted eye. Jamal Crawford dropped 32 points off the bench in Game 6. That pair—along with Redick, DeAndre Jordan and the since-departed Jeff Green—kept L.A. within striking distance over the final two tilts.

Today’s Clippers will have more than two-plus games to see what their newfound depth can do.

“Honestly, I don’t think there’s ever anything bad,” head coach Doc Rivers said. “I think there’s always something good in this. We’ll find something out. I don’t know what it is. But I always think you find a diamond in any of this stuff when this stuff happens.”

So far, the results have been mixed. L.A. beat up on the Denver Nuggets during Griffin’s first game out after knee surgery. It also held on to defeat the San Antonio Spurs following Paul’s hamstring strain. However, the Clippers went on to drop dates at Staples Center to the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets. 

Paul looked like he might’ve played against the Lakers on Christmas Day, but got yanked out of the starting lineup once it became clear he wasn’t at full strength.

“Right now, feeling good is just not good enough,” Rivers said. “If it was the playoffs, clearly that’s good enough. But game 30-whatever, I feel good is not a good enough response. We’ve got to feel 100 percent.”

The All-Star point guard returned in time for the Clippers’ trip to New Orleans, but couldn’t quite stave off a 102-98 loss to the Pelicans. That ran L.A.’s losing streak to four in a row and its total of sub-.500 losses to nine on the season.

“I’m thinking big picture,” Paul said. “At the end of the day, we want to be healthy at the right time.”

The Clippers have the luxury of pulling back from the day to day. At 22-12, they’re well-positioned to snag a postseason spot for a team-record sixth straight year.

“We’ll be fine,” Austin Rivers insisted. “We still will be a top-four seed in the playoffs. We’re still going to be one of the best teams in the West.”

The younger Rivers is but one of the reasons the Clippers are sanguine about this stretch without their stars. Between Rivers, Jamal Crawford and Raymond Felton, L.A. has three guards with starting experience who can attack off the dribble, create opportunities for their teammates and generate offense out of thin air.

Then again, even if that trio could go full Voltron, it would have a hard time matching Paul’s production and efficiency at the point.

“No disrespect to anyone on their roster, but nobody can do what Chris Paul does,” Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said. “He’s arguably the best point guard in the world.”

Felton fought through a 101-degree fever against the Lakers and was still “sick as a dog”, per Doc Rivers, against the Nuggets the next night. Austin and Crawford have had to strike balances between scoring and playmaking that, under normal circumstances, would tilt one way over the other.

“Our heart’s in the right place,” Crawford said. “We’re just trying to get guys shots. We’re both naturally attackers. We’re both naturally scorers. But we’re very cognizant of trying to get our guys shots.”

In the three games following Paul’s injury, the Clippers turned the ball over 15.3 times. That’s well above their season average of 12.7 to that point, per NBA.com, and the 11 they logged with Paul back at the point in New Orleans.

The Clippers’ remaining frontcourt players have had to adapt, as well. Luc Mbah a Moute and Wesley Johnson had played just 10 minutes together all season before logging 19 minutes as L.A.’s starting pair against Denver. …

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