Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – Months ago, the words “perseverance” and “resolve” were nothing more than hopes, talk of “cerebral play” down the stretch nothing more than fiction.
That changed Monday.
Those words and phrases buzzed throughout the Clippers’ postgame locker room, getting thrown around multiple times by multiple players in reference to what they had just demonstrated in Detroit and on the five-game road trip.
It’s often to hear a team dismiss a win as nothing more than one game. But this Clippers group, unaccustomed in recent years to having to search for answers the way they’ve had to early this year, didn’t sugarcoat the importance of winning the fourth of five games and battling back to do so.
“It was huge,” said Blake Griffin. “The way we bounced back and came back from behind and stayed together, it was really good.”
The Clippers aren’t in a place to be looking for style points. After stumbling out of the gates, they just need wins. But the way they won showed a stark contrast from a group that had given up double-digit leads in each of their first three losses of the season.
It seemed as if it might be more of the same Monday, watching a double-digit lead to start the fourth quarter evaporate minutes later. The Pistons took the lead, something which may have been enough to let fans switch the channel earlier in the season.
But then came the resolve that had eluded them for much of the season. To begin the trip, the Clippers came back from down by three points with less than a minute left in Minnesota to win. Then, to end the trip, they answer after going down by four points with less than a minute left in Detroit, shaking off the emotional letdown of surrendering a sizable lead.
“That’s big for us,” said Chris Paul. “We’ve been going through our struggles…so to be down like we were and to fight back like that and to make the heads-up, cerebral plays that we made was big.”
J.J. Redick hit a game-tying 3-pointer with seconds remaining against the Pistons in the fourth quarter. When the Clippers got down again in overtime, Jamal Crawford answered with a go-ahead 3-pointer.
“I think a win like this can go a long ways,” Crawford said. “We handled adversity again. I think we were down three with a minute to go in Minnesota, this game, we’re down 86-81, a minute and a half, two minutes (left), and we found a way to win.”
So, what changed?
The Clippers believe it starts with trust, something Griffin, Paul, Crawford and Rivers all mentioned after the final win.
There was trust on Griffin’s part, not knowing for certain whether or not Redick would be in the corner as he dished to the shooter anyway for the game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation. Then, there was trust on Griffin’s part in overtime once he got doubled that Crawford would do his part to take the lead.
“The last one was a big one because you’ve got to trust that pass,” Rivers said. “I mean, that’s a growth thing from our team. We preach it every day. We don’t care who it is. If the guy’s open, shoot, throw it to him.”
There was also trust on Rivers’ part.
He said the Clippers’ players went away from what was originally called on the game-tying fourth quarter 3-pointer and the go-ahead overtime 3-pointer, but he saw how engaged the players were in what was going on and let it happen.
On the overtime 3-pointer from Crawford, Paul trusted Griffin in a mismatch, so he went to him. When the Pistons brought help, Griffin trusted Crawford, who had no one near him.
“He hit the open man,” Paul said. “Some guys may try to force shots, take a tough shot, but we just trusted that the next man is going to make the shot.”
Both times, the clutch shots sent the bench into a frenzy, including those who aren’t getting the minutes they’re accustomed to.
“We have a lot of faith in everybody out there,” Crawford said. “We have a lot of high-IQ guys, guys that are happy for each other’s success. You watch the shot I made, Lance (Stephenson) and those guys are on the sideline, the shot J.J. made, we’re all going crazy. We play for each other, and we’re really figuring it out.”
The 3-pointers will be what many will remember from the trip, but it’s on defense where the trust may be paying off most.
As the Clippers work through all their changes, they sit in the bottom 10 in the league in 3-pointers made per game (7.8) and 3-point percentage (33.6), all while allowing 100.9 points per 100 possessions and a 33.6 percent success rate for opponents from 3-point range.
In December, primarily because of the road trip, those numbers have all gone the Clippers’ direction. They’re allowing just 5.7 made 3-pointers per game this month, trailing only the Spurs in that category defensively, and are holding teams to a 31 percent mark from 3-point range while allowing 99.2 points per 100 possessions.
They’re guarding the perimeter, and they’re finding their stroke at opportune times. This month, they’re crawling their way back up to the middle of the pack in made 3-pointers per game (8.9) and 3-point percentage (35.2).
One trip won’t change everything that’s transpired this year, and the Clippers know there’s much more still to be straightened out. But seeing the perseverance and resolve first-hand is a step in the right direction, and they realize the importance of that.
“There were a lot of things that went wrong for us,” Rivers said. “But we kind of gathered ourselves.”
Now, they hope they can do the same with their season.
