The Los Angeles Clippers are sitting at a comfortable 6-1 record, tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers for the league's best record.
A good reason for that has been their stellar defense. The Clippers are leading the league in defensive efficiency only allowing 90.3 points per 100 possessions. This is a huge leap forward for the Clippers who stood at number four last season and number 15 in the previous year.
Doc Rivers spoke to Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com about the team's defense, and says it's the best he's seen from this group.
“That’s two nights in a row that we’ve had great pace, and our defense has been as good as I’ve seen it. Our hands are everywhere right now, and that’s a good sign.”
The team remains in the middle of the pack offensively, but it's the defense that creates extra scoring opportunities. Blake Griffin explained how the team's primary focus this year is defense, and the results are speaking for themselves.
“It starts with defense. I know we always say that, but it really does… I thought we just settled in. One of our coaches said early on the first half a high number of points came in transition and early offense and early post-ups, so whenever you’re getting buckets like that, it opens everything up.”
It's early in the season, but so far, things are working perfectly. The players are committed to playing tough defense all the way to the last man on the bench. The Clippers have never led the league in defensive categories for an entire season, so there won't be any surprises if other teams rise in the rankings.
None of that matters at the moment because the team is off to a great start. How well they maintain what they've discovered will be the important thing later.
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