On December 21, Beijing time, the Clippers without Paul George defeated the Mavericks 120-111 on the road, winning 9 consecutive wins, and in December local time, the Clippers won all 9 games without defeat, and with the Kings losing to the Celtics at home, the Clippers rose to 4th place in the West with a 17-10 record. Quietly, the Clippers were once again a strong contender for the championship.
In December, the Northern Expedition was unstoppable
Since the second half of this year, fans like to use the term Northern Expedition to describe those teams who strive to improve the rankings, there is no doubt that the Clippers, who were once only ranked 11th in the West, are now undoubtedly experiencing such a Northern Expedition journey, and they have successfully improved the ranking by 7 places with their outstanding performance, only 3.5 wins away from the "Northern Expedition Victory" to the top of the West.
The Clippers have undoubtedly been the best team in the league in the past nine games, winning all nine games, while the 76ers and Bucks, who are in second place in wins over the same period, have only won seven games, and at the advanced level, their offensive efficiency is as high as 126.6, ranking first in the league, and their defensive efficiency of 114.3 is ranked 10th in the league. Although it is not No. 1, you must know that the No. 1 76ers have played many weak teams such as the Hornets, Wizards, and Pistons in the past 9 games, on the contrary, the Clippers' schedule is even tougher, including the past 5 games, they have 4 opponents with a win rate of more than 50%, and the only one that does not reach 50% is the Golden State Warriors with Curry Thompson.
However, despite the difficult schedule, the Clippers never stopped, and in every game, they were able to find a way to defeat the enemy on the offensive end, and they also worked the defensive end, which together contributed to the success of the Clippers in the past period. Harden said after today's game, "As we played more and more, we finally found our qualities, and we became more and more aware of the team's goals on both ends of the floor, and now that has translated into results." ”
The small card reproduces the matchless mode Harden is comparable to Zhuge Kongming
In the eyes of the outside world, the Clippers are a team of the Big Four. In the past, though, the Clippers have actually been a big two-man team. Their offense basically relied on two men: Leonard and Harden. Against the Mavericks, Leonard once again showed his terrifying ability to finish the game, and the Mavericks once overtook the score in the final quarter, but at the critical moment, Leonard stepped up and scored 1 to 1 many times, and finally scored 10 points in the final quarter to help the team win. And this kind of performance has become the norm for Leonard in the past month, during the 9-game winning streak, Leonard shot more than 50% in every game, including 5 games with 30+ points, after experiencing a slump at the beginning of the season, Leonard has undoubtedly reopened the unmatched mode, so far he can average 24.4 points per game, shooting 52.1% from the field, and 42.9% from three-point range It's fair to say that as long as this performance continues, it's only a matter of time before Leonard returns to the All-Star this season. Obviously, with such a Leonard who is exceptionally good at attacking, the Clippers have the confidence to compete with any team in a critical moment.
If Leonard is the general of the Clippers' Northern Expedition, then Harden is undoubtedly a strategist behind the scenes, and the Mavericks, Harden only scored 17 points on 4-of-12 shooting, and his performance on the scoring end was not outstanding, but he delivered a team-high 11 assists throughout the game, and Harden also attracted the attention of the opponent's defense several times, and even when the Clippers served in the backcourt, Harden, who was standing in the midline position, was caught by the Mavericks without the ball, which is enough to see the importance of Harden to the Clippers today.
In the first 11 games after joining the Clippers, Harden averaged only 14.1 points and 6.2 assists per game, with a shooting rate of only 44.2%, but in the past 11 games, Harden has averaged 20.1 points and 9.3 assists per game, and the shooting rate has exceeded 50%, including the past 4 games, Harden can average 11.8 assists per game, including 15 assists against the Warriors.
Since Leonard and George teamed up in 2019, the lack of playmaking at the No. 1 position has plagued the Clippers, whether it is Beverley, Reggie Jackson, Wall, Mann, or Westbrook, they have not been able to take on the responsibility of the organization, so that Leonard and George have been able to do jobs that they are not good at many times, which in turn affects offensive efficiency, and with the arrival of Harden, such a problem has been solved.
Harden's joining the speedboat is like Liu Xuande's harvest of Zhuge Kongming, before Zhuge Liang came out of the mountain, Liu Bei was also surrounded by tens of thousands of enemy generals like Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, but Liu Bei, who lacked a military advisor, was repeatedly defeated. Now, Tyronn Lue finally has his own Zhuge Liang, plus a super fierce player like Leonard George, the Clippers will naturally become the top team in the league again, and it can even be said that they are better than the Clippers team in any year from 2019 to 2022 from the perspective of hard power, because the current Clippers team has a more reasonable lineup, not only do they continue to maintain excellent individual singles ability, excellent roster depth, but they also have an organizational core that can connect the whole team.
There are hidden worries under the winning streak, and the speedboat state is early?
As we all know, whether it was Liu Bei's battle of Yiling or Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, they all ended in failure, and the most important reason for this was that the Shu army lacked food and grass and had limited troops. In terms of squad depth, the Clippers and the Shu Army are not the same, they still have fierce generals like Powell and Wei Shao on the bench, and even Hyland, who has fallen out of the rotation, and Plumlee, who has been injured, have played well this season. However, like the Shu army, the Clippers' dependence on stars is also extremely serious, and the turning point of the Shu Army's decline from prosperity to decline is Guan Yu's carelessness in Jingzhou, Leonard is undoubtedly the Guan Yu of this Clippers team, once he falls, then the Clippers team will not be able to succeed in any case.
In the past few years, Leonard has been plagued by injuries, 20-23 years, 3 seasons combined only played 104 games, but this season's small card is surprisingly healthy, so far played all 27 games of the team, an average of 34.5 minutes per game is a new career high, but because of this, the Clippers undoubtedly need to plan for Leonard in advance, load management, so that he can appear on the playoff stage healthy, after all, for the Clippers, the most important thing is the playoffs. The same can be said for George, who has only missed two games this season and has had better attendance than any other season since he joined the Clippers. In addition, Harden has also played 22 consecutive games after making his Clippers debut, and his body continues to be in a state of high load, which is undoubtedly not a good thing for the long-term development of the Clippers.
In addition, the Clippers' excellent form in December is also not a good thing from the perspective of the championship competition, and fans who are familiar with the World Cup know that those teams who show excellent form in the group stage of the World Cup often do not end up having the last laugh, but those teams that stumble in the group stage can finally lift the Gold Cup, such as Argentina at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
After beating the Mavericks, the Clippers only played their 27th game of the season, and there are still many games waiting for them, a team that is out of shape so early, will inevitably encounter some problems in the second half of the season, especially fitness and injury problems, and once someone in the three cores of the Clippers suffers an injury, it will directly affect their prospects for the whole season, in fact, the Clippers should understand this truth the most, in the second half of last season, the Clippers were in excellent shape, winning consecutive games, and once became the favorite to compete for the championship, but in the end George was injured in the game against the Thunder, and then missed the playoffs, which also partly led to Leonard's injury in the playoffs, which ultimately led to the Clippers once again accepting a failed season.
Leonard attacked, Harden tandem, and the whole team united to defend, and the Clippers reaped their winning formula in December, but the winning streak is sweet, but for a team that is aiming for a decisive game in June, long-term planning is also essential.