LA Clippers

Think Clippers are better without Griffin? Doc thinks you've lost your mind

Published Feb. 11, 2016 11:17 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Clippers are 18-5 since Blake Griffin went down with a quad injury back in December. But even if their winning percentage is better without the starting power forward, are the Clippers actually a better team with Blake riding the pine?

Doc Rivers thinks even the premise of that question is egregious:

The 18-5 record over that stretch is a tad misleading. The Clippers have played just nine teams with records currently over .500 and many of those are middling Eastern Conference playoff contenders whose records are just barely above sea level.

For all the talk of how Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan don't play well together, Los Angeles was still outscoring opponents handily with the three of them on the floor. That's not because of stellar defense, of course; instead, the Clippers score 111.3 points per 100 possessions with their star trio. Just for the sake of comparison, the NBA's best overall offense clocks in at 113 points per 100.

That doesn't mean things are perfect, though. The Clippers could certainly use Griffin better within their offense. He's taking more and more long 2s every year, and even if only a couple of those a night turned into 3s, the attack could become that much more efficient. It would help spacing. It would give him some more shots with a better expected points outcome. And if we've conceded that Griffin just isn't going to go inside as much as he once did (whether because of his doing, Rivers' preferences or DeAndre Jordan's propensity to hang around the paint), a few 3s would be the next-best option.

That said, the Clippers are hardly broken in the core. They don't have a backup 4. They don't have a backup point guard, though Pablo Prigioni has proven to be serviceable of late. They don't have a consistent, two-way 3. Those are the issues the Clips need to fix most.

So, no. Taking away Griffin doesn't make the Clippers better. And it certainly doesn't give them a better chance to beat the Warriors, Spurs or Thunder in the postseason. L.A., who just suspended him for four games for the fighting incident in Toronto, should be anxiously awaiting his return.