PLAYA VISTA, Calif. – The Clippers went 2-1 last week, continuing to push forward and win games despite playing shorthanded.
Here are the resulting power rankings after last week’s action from NBA.com, ESPN.com, SI.com and CBSSports.com, along with a brief explanation for the position of the Clippers. Click on the ranking under each publication to see the full explanations for each team.
NBA.com
Clippers No. 6 (Last week No. 5) – “Jeff Green is still very much Jeff Green, scoring five, 18, six and 22 points in his first four games with the Clippers. But Green’s inconsistency still looks like an upgrade over the little offense they’ve been getting from starting forwards Luc Mbah a Moute and Paul Pierce. Either way, Chris Paul and J.J. Redick continue to carry the offense and don’t get enough attention for how good of a shooting backcourt they’ve been.”
ESPN.com
Clippers No. 7 (Last week No. 6) – “Distinction that probably sounds better than it really is: DeAndre Jordan first in FG percentage, J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford first in FT percentage might make the Clips the first team in history to field the league leader in all three of those categories. A more important distinction: They are the last team to beat Golden State in a playoff series, which has to count for something.”
SI.com
Clippers No. 6(Last week No. 5) – “How good has J.J. Redick been all year? He’s got the league’s highest individual offensive rating (112.4) among players who aren’t Warriors or named Kevin Durant or Russell Westbrook. He has the highest individual net rating of all non-Warriors and non-Spurs. He has the best effective field goal and true shooting percentages among guards not named Steph Curry (min. 10 games, 20 mpg).”
CBSSports.com
Clippers No. 7(Last week No. 6) – “Eventually, Blake Griffin’s going to come back and what this team looks like when that happens is going to be Must-See TV. Their schedule is about to become a gauntlet, so keeping it together through this stretch will be a challenge, but not one they’re unaccustomed to.”
