National Basketball Association

LA Clippers: Doc Rivers says defense is 'as good as I've seen it'

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The LA Clippers currently lead the NBA in defensive rating, and head coach Doc Rivers says the team’s defense is as good as he’s ever seen it.

The LA Clippers had one of the best defenses in the league last season, rising to 4th in defensive efficiency after ranking a dead average 15th in 2014-15. The stellar backup play and rim protection of Cole Aldrich may be gone, but the Clippers have still been playing with intensity, physicality, and overall success so far. The bench in particular have been impressive with the way they’ve pressured the ball with guards like Austin Rivers and Raymond Felton, switched effectively, and communicated well to rotate and hold their own.

For their efforts, the Clippers lead the NBA in defensive rating, allowing only 90.7 points per 100 possessions to earn their 5-1 record with some grit.

As head coach Doc Rivers said to Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com after a 116-92 win against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, the Clippers’ defense has been as good as he’s ever seen it:

“That’s two nights in a row that we’ve had great pace, and our defense has been as good as I’ve seen it. Our hands are everywhere right now, and that’s a good sign.”

Blake Griffin has already emphasized the Clippers’ increased regard for defense this season and how they hold themselves on defensive quality above anything else in training. It’s clearly a point of emphasis for the team this season. And as they embrace this intensity early on and accept their identity as “anti-heroes” in the NBA (read Gaia Rhodes’ great piece for us here, which explores this topic), they’ve proven that the focus on defense is starting to pay off.

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Griffin commented on the Clippers’ transition scoring against the Spurs, which is obviously the product of getting defensive stops:

“It starts with defense. I know we always say that, but it really does… I thought we just settled in. One of our coaches said early on the first half a high number of points came in transition and early offense and early post-ups, so whenever you’re getting buckets like that, it opens everything up.”

To match their offense, the Clippers are placing even more effort into their defense and it’s working so far. If the bench can keep getting more defensive stops to try and follow suit of the fastbreaks DeAndre Jordan creates with his blocks, even better.

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We’ll likely see a slight decline in the efficiency rankings from the LA Clippers as the season continues and they face more tough opponents, but this start has only been impressive.

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