Rowan Kavner
DETROIT – The Clippers’ five-game road trip ends Monday night after beginning the trip 3-1, with all four games coming last week.
Here are the latest power rankings from NBA.com, ESPN.com, SI.com, CBSSports.com and NBCSports.com after last week’s action, along with a brief explanation for the position of the Clippers.
Click on the ranking under each publication to see the full explanations.
NBA.com
Clippers No. 12 (Last week No. 15) – “The Clippers are 7-2 since Thanksgiving, but have only the 14th ranked offense in that stretch and haven’t beat a team with a winning record since they beat the Pistons a month ago…”
ESPN.com
Clippers No. 11 (Last week No. 17) – “For your calendars: Monday marks the four-year anniversary of the Clippers’ trade for Chris Paul. All they want to commemorate the occasion, of course, is a pain-free stretch for CP3, whose numbers — thanks to a run of nagging ailments — aren’t what we’re used to, starting with his lowest PER (21.84) since 2006-07 (22.4).”
SI.com
Clippers No. 11 (Last week No. 10) – “The Clippers have essentially righted the ship, but are 4-7 against teams over .500 and are still without a statement win. They’ve begun to share the ball a bit better, but a lot of their guys need it in their hands and Blake Griffin remains their second-best point guard.”
CBSSports.com
Clippers No. 10 (Last week No. 8) – “They fall two spots because of the Thunder and Celtics’ jumps, just like Toronto did … but honestly? I’m just not impressed with this team anymore. They didn’t play well vs. the Magic, Wolves, Bulls or even the Nets. They went 3-1 in those games, but at this point, how do you walk away with any confidence that this team is going to end its season any differently…”
NBCSports.com
Clippers No. 9 (Last week No. 13) – “They are 7-3 in their last 10, but it’s hard to read too much into that as they have done it against a soft part of the schedule. The big question is this: Their defense is sixth in the NBA in the last 10 games, can they sustain the play on that end against better teams? Pistons and Spurs on the docket this week.”
