Whicker: With a 13-2 record in March, Clippers aren’t doing it on intangibles alone

LOS ANGELES — J.B. Bickerstaff, the Memphis coach, offered a novel analysis of the Clippers’ stormy surge.

He acknowledges the one-for-all nature of what they’re doing. But he also thinks talent has something to do with it.

“When you have the skill level and the talent level that they have, and then the willingness to be part of something bigger than themselves, you see the success you can have,” Bickerstaff said after his depleted Grizzlies were trounced Sunday night, 113-96, by a Clippers team that was a league-best 13-2 in March.

Someone mentioned the star-driven ways of the NBA and how an ensemble like the Clippers usually can’t expect to circumvent a great player or two.

“Yeah, but it’s a high-level ensemble,”  Bickerstaff said. “(Danilo) Gallinari is a heck of a player. Montrezl Harrell, the way he’s playing, Lou-Will (Williams), you can go on and on. They didn’t just throw a bunch of guys together in the locker room. They went out and got some talented players, but it still comes down to the way they’ve bought in. Nobody is uncomfortable in his role.”

The Clippers are 47-31 and are in a percentage-points tie with Utah for fifth in the West. If they win three of their four closing games, they’ll get to 50 wins for the sixth time in the past seven seasons.

This was not considered likely, particularly after the Clippers dealt Tobias Harris to Philadelphia Feb. 6. They are 17-6 since then.

“I think it’s a case of us having stars but maybe people not recognizing them as stars,” Tyrone Wallace said. ‘Gallo is a star, Lou is definitely a star. I think the reason we’ve come together as a team is that we don’t have hidden agendas, that there’s no ulterior motives when guys go out on the court. We’re all playing for each other. We’re happy when we see somebody doing good.”

Harrell (1.53) and Gallinari (1.52) are ranked fifth and sixth in the NBA in points per field goal attempt.

“Efficiency matters,” said coach Doc Rivers, whose team shoots 313 fewer 3-pointers than its opposition but makes 38.9 percent. “This is how we score. If we get 130 points I don’t care if we get there on ‘ones,’ let alone threes.”

The Clippers manage to get there. Against Memphis, Gallinari got 27 points, 15 rebounds and five assists, and got to the foul line 16 times. Harrell, Williams and JaMychal Green brought 52 points off the bench and shot 16 for 29.

About the only thing that irked Rivers was the failure of rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to get an assist in the first half. But SGA got three in the second half and had four steals for the game, which featured such temps as Dusty Hannahs, Yuha Watanabe and Julian Washburn logging significant minutes for the Grizzlies (31-45).

Rivers again voiced no preference for a playoff opponent.

“I don’t think the top four teams are looking at the bottom of the conference and saying, ‘I wish we could play this or that team,’’’ he said. “I think they’re all tough. Maybe Golden State is looking at 15 teams (counting the Eastern Conference) and saying that, but I don’t think any of those teams are scared to play them.”

“In the playoffs you have teams saying they want to take away this or that guy,” Wallace said. “I think they’ll be looking to take away Gal or Lou. But if they do, we have a lot of guys who can make up for that.”

The Clippers are scoring 117.3 points a game since the Harris trade, second only to Milwaukee, and they’re getting to the foul line 28.6 times a game, which leads the league.

They have Houston and the Lakers before they go to Golden State on Saturday, and then they end the regular season April 10 here against Utah. Instead of elbowing their way into their picture, they’re lining up for position.

“You go right into the playoffs now,” Rivers said. “You don’t wait a week. You need to go in hot.”

Source link