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Following Through

Before the season started, I wrote about a window of opportunity the Clippers had at the beginning of the season.  I picked out November 15th as an interesting time to check the standings.  Well, November 15th was alost 3 weeks ago.  On November 15th, the Clippers were indeed in first place in the division at 5-2, as I had hoped they would be.  But more than anything, it proves how myopic and impatient fanatics like myself can be.  After that meaningless date, the team immediately went into a complete funk, winning a poorly played game against the Sixers and then losing 5 straight.  By November 25th, they were in last place.

It's a long season.  The only thing that matters is where they are on April 18th.  

I also re-visted my season preview recently.  You may recall that I wrote a preview as part of a series organized by Jeff Clark at CelticsBlog.  Well, Jeff collected updates from most of the same previewers as a follow-up after one month of the season.  Here is the complete update, and here is my contribution:

On November 18, after an ugly win over the Sixers in OT at home, I wrote that the Clippers... um, what was the word I used... SUCKED! At the time they were 6 and 2 and leading their Division. They proceeded to lose 5 straight, equaling their longest losing streak of last season. So what's wrong? I have many theories, but really they just haven't been sharp. Particularly distressing is their 0-6 road record. They'll have to win 2 of 3 the rest of the way, 45-23 in their remaining 68, to reach the 52 wins I predicted for them, but that's totally doable if they start playing well. If they don't get sharp, and soon, they'll miss the playoffs - the West is just too deep.