NBA Power Rankings: The Los Angeles Clippers’ curse is lame
Los Angeles Clippers 30-17
Last week: 3-3
Last rank: 6th
The Los Angeles Clippers are cursed; not like, Scooby Doo mysterious ghost cursed, but The Ring black-haired girl climbing out of televisions cursed. Once again, one of the Clippers dynamic duo of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are hurt. Paul injured his thumb against the Oklahoma City Thunder and is expected to miss at least a month. Griffin, however, has finally returned from the sidelines and despite posting a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double, it wasn’t enough for them to defeat the hottest team in the NBA, the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Rivers has been fairly decent as the de facto starting point guard and with Griffin back this team should be able to avoid a disastrous stretch that would seem them lose hold on one of the top four seeds in the Western Conference.
This year could possibly be the first time that the Clippers do not have a representative in the All-Star game since Paul, Griffin and DeAndre Jordan teamed up in 2012. Doc Rivers’ team might have finally hit the crossroads they have been trying to put off for the last few years. As the time counts down to the impending free agency of Griffin and Paul (and J.J. Redick) it looks like the time is ripe to split this group up and try again with new pieces — for a preview of what the next iteration of the Clippers could look like just look back at what players have done really well against Rivers coached teams.