NBA Power Rankings: What exactly is wrong with the Clippers?

24. Los Angeles Clippers

As of Sunday, the Clippers are losers of eight straight games, putting them at 5-10 on the season. They’ve won just once since Blake Griffin beat the Trail Blazers with a 3-pointer on Oct. 29. For the year, their net rating is 16th, per nba.com/stats, but net rating doesn’t equate to wins. And losing this much is indicative of a problem.

Case in point: the Clippers had the Cavs on the ropes Friday. They were up and generally outplayed the Cavs for most of that game. And yet, they ended up losing in overtime. The Clippers then followed it up by getting absolutely drubbed by the Hornets, causing Doc Rivers to say his team ‘didn’t play right’.

“We’ve been in basketball enough to know the ups and the downs,” Griffin said, per the Los Angeles Times.  “Everything that happens through the course of the season. We’re banged up right now. If you look at all these games that we lost, not that it helps any or changes our record, but you could make a point that we’ve been in all but two with under three minutes or so. There are little things that we have to change the course of the game.”

The good news: Patrick Beverley should return on Monday against the Knicks. The Clippers can surely find good use for his defense, his ball handling and his shooting. Plus, Beverley’s general grit and fight can’t hurt. One would have to wonder if the losses don’t stop piling up, even as they get healthy, if changes are coming.