A frustrating NBA season just got worse for the Los Angeles Clippers, but if there was ever a time for something to go moderately wrong, this might be it.
First, the basic news: Blake Griffin, one of the 15 best players in the world, suffered a partially torn left quadricep tendon. The injury, announced by the Clippers on Saturday, will sideline Griffin for at least two weeks.
A team whose bench and role-player combinations have struggled to find a good working rhythm this season must now perform under a unique level of pressure. There’s no more wiggle room for the likes of a recently-benched Josh Smith and a drifting Lance Stephenson — they have to step into this vacuum and compensate for Griffin’s absence. They can’t be expected to fully replace Griffin, but if they can minimize the negative effects of Griffin’s extended stay on the injured list, such that Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan can carry the team to a number of close wins, the Clippers could not merely survive the first few weeks of January; Griffin getting a rest for his legs could make him a fresher player after the All-Star break. Los Angeles could cultivate the bench depth it has long sought under head coach and general manager Doc Rivers.
The Clippers could make this work to their advantage.
The key point is this: The team now hopes Griffin’s injury is not a month-long event, and that it lasts no more than three weeks. As long as that’s the case, the Clips could emerge on the other side with a season largely intact.
The Clippers visit Washington on Monday, and then play home-and-homes with Charlotte and New Orleans while hosting Philadelphia, visiting Portland, and then — in the middle of January — playing a three-game homestand against Miami, Sacramento and Houston.
On January 21, the Clippers begin a rough five-game road trip: Cleveland, New York, Toronto, Indiana, Atlanta. If Griffin is not back and fully functional by then, the Clippers could get tagged. Until then, however, the schedule is soft enough that the bench can simultaneously keep the team afloat and hone its skills for the latter portion of the season, heading into the playoffs.
There’s another angle to consider here, but one which is definitely secondary in importance at this point: playoff positioning.
The Clippers entered Saturday night half a game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks for fourth place in the Western Conference. On a short-term level, it’s clearly best for the Clippers to be in the 4-versus-5 first-round playoff matchup. That’s L.A.’s best and easiest ticket to the second round. However, if the Clippers fall to the No. 6 spot, they would very likely draw Oklahoma City in round one (a tougher draw), but create the possibility that they would avoid the Golden State Warriors until the Western Conference Finals.
It’s early in the season, but the Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs have established very high standards, such that the top two to three seeds in the West already own a likely pecking order. This is not to say that the Clippers should intentionally coast through the next two weeks; the point to stress is that if the Clippers do fall to No. 6 as a result of Griffin’s injury, it might not be the crisis many might first think it is.
The main thing the Clippers need from these next two weeks is for the role players to prove themselves. If that happens, Blake Griffin’s injury — an undeniably negative event — could turn into a positive. Teams which aspire to be great must engineer those kinds of transformations over the course of a long season.
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