The Los Angeles Clippers have lost eight of 13 games since the All-Star break. Their loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night was their third in a row, and veteran guard J.J. Redick could not provide any excuses.
While speaking to reporters after the game, Redick was hard on himself and his teammates.
“I don’t know what to expect from this team anymore,” he said, via Bill Oram of the Orange County Register. “We’re in a bad place right now. We’re losing games. We’ve been (garbage) since the All-Star break.”
The Clippers are suddenly the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference, holding only a half-game lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder for that spot. Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan both sat out Thursday on the second night of a back-to-back, and their absence led to a complete lack of defense in a 129-114 loss. But even with the two big men, L.A.’s defense has not been good.
“Going into a game, what do you expect?” Redick asked. “I expect that we’re going to play horrible defense. I expect that. That seems pretty consistent with where we’re at right now and other than that I have no other predictions.”
Chris Paul agreed that the Clippers’ have a ton of work to do on the defensive side of the ball.
“Our defense kind of (stinks) right now. That’s on us,” Paul said. “We’ve got to get more effort and all that stuff like that. But we’ve just got to be better all around.”
The Clippers allow 105.1 points per game, which ranks near the middle of the pack in the NBA. They have allowed more than 120 points three times since the All-Star Break, however, so they have to tighten up before the postseason.
L.A. won’t stand a chance against a team like the San Antonio Spurs in a seven-game series if they can’t figure out how to stop opponents from scoring. You can understand the frustration from Redick and Paul.
