Enjoying their longest winning streak since the 1991-92 season, don't expect "Lob City"
to show signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Led by Danny Manning, the 1991-92 Clippers finished with a better record than their Los Angeles counterparts for the first time in franchise history. Is this relevant to the eight game winning streak that the team is currently in the midst of? Not necessarily, but it is an interesting piece of history, a history that Clipper fanatics and followers of the ball club would like to forget. If you take a step back and think about it, about two decades have gone by since the team has experienced consecutive victories of this quantity. That is a decent amount of time.
Could Danny Manning, more known for leading Kansas to a national championship in 1988, be the leader of an NBA Championship team? Stranger things have happened in sports---wait, I can't think of anything stranger than that would have been had it occurred. Could Chris Paul (a floor general and according to John Hollinger the most efficient Point Guard in the NBA), Blake Griffin (averaging 18.2 points and 8.9 rebounds on the season, yet has the potential to explode in any given game and is hands down one of the best Power Forwards in the NBA) lead Los Angeles to a title? It's much more likely and highly possible.
Caron Butler may very well be the best all-around player on the Clippers not named Chris Paul, Matt Barnes is finally having his shots fall, Jamal Crawford is the front runner for sixth man of the year, in my opinion, Bledsoe continues to show flashes of potential, and DeAndre Jordan has developed a more effective post game, while continuing to reign as a defensive stopper. If you have watched any Clipper games during the eight game hot streak, their chemistry is evident. Everyone seems to know where the open man is at, they're communicating defensively, and never panic when things are turning in favor of the opposition. If there is any vulnerability about this team that I've noticed, it's their inability to get back in transition defensively at times. Several times during last night's contest with the Bobcats Michael Kidd-Gilchrist or Kemba Walker would easily get to the rim.
To sum everything up, the Clippers on their best day can compete with any team in the NBA. And with the Lakers struggling to even win a single game right now, the Spurs and Thunder look to be the only teams imposing any kind of threat to L.A. out west. This team is gelling and seems to be headed in the right direction. And when you have talent like the Clippers do, a bench that looks to be headed in the right direction in terms of producing more consistently, and a leader like Chris Paul, the only thing that will stand in their way (if things go as planned) may just be themselves... or the "Big Bad Miami Heat." But if it matters any, the Clippers defeated Miami by seven during their first of two meetings this year.
