Once Clippers’ Achilles’ Heel, L.A.’s Depth Becoming an Asset at the Right Time

The primary downfall of every Los Angeles Clippers playoff run, since Doc Rivers became head coach and president, has been a glaring lack of depth. 

As talented as Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick are—and as machine-like as their starting five is scoring the ball—the Clippers can’t journey deep in the playoffs without a bench that, at times, is able to stand on its own. That or complement and support the starting five. 

Instead, the Clippers have struggled, symbolizing Rivers’ inability to construct a team as well-rounded and balanced as those they need to beat, but that wasn’t the case in L.A’s 102-81 Game 2 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday.

One performance doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme, but so far Los Angeles has showed why its supporting cast is miles ahead of where it used to be. 

Instead of staggering his starters’ minutes so the Clippers would have at least one of Paul, Griffin, Redick or Jordan on the court at all times, Rivers chose to feature an all-bench five-man unit in Game 2. It was a roaring success. 

“They just changed the game for us. They were spectacular tonight…I thought they saved the game for us,” Rivers said. “They came in and opened the floor, and just played, got ball movement. But then on the other end, I thought they got a ton of stops and scores, so that was huge for us. There’s going to be nights like that in the playoffs where your starters may not get it going and you need a lift. Tonight was one of those nights.”

Three-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner Jamal Crawford, Austin Rivers, Wesley Johnson, Jeff Green and …

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