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It certainly didn't feel like a good week for the Clippers, but taken as a seven day unit from Sunday to Sunday, it actually went pretty well. The Clippers were 3-1 during the week, posting three road victories, which is never a bad thing. The one loss -- a drubbing in Brooklyn in which they shot 32% -- was hideous, but even then, they had a decent excuse given that they were playing the second game of a back-to-back, and missed the shots you might expect tired legs to miss.
As a result, they've mostly gone up in Power Ranking this week (the one outlier being Matt Moore, who is a friend of mine, but has always been irrationally anti-LAC). That's partly because the Clippers played OK -- and more about the fact that Houston and Denver and Golden State were all pretty mediocre this week. The Clippers are sixth in a lot of rankings this week, which is all well and good; it means the pundits mostly have them ahead of the Rockets and Nuggets and Warriors and Suns. Big deal.
There is a vast gulf between the top five -- the Pacers, Heat, Blazers, Spurs and Thunder in some order -- and the rest right now. As it happens, the Clippers have upcoming games against two of those five, tonight against the Spurs and Thursday against the Blazers, so if they want to gain ground against that top group, they can start now.
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| Source | Pundit | Rank(LAC) | Comment |
| ESPN.com | Marc Stein | 6 | Attacks from Charles Barkley about the Clippers' toughness are getting to be an every-Thursday-night kind of thing. L.A.'s 6-6 record against the East certainly isn't helping those of us who want to counter on the Clips' behalf, but injuries and a road-heavy schedule have been factors, too. |
| Yahoo.com | Marc Spears | 6 | Former Spurs swingman Stephen Jackson faces his old team for the first time on Monday. The Spurs released Jackson late last season. |
| SI.com | Matt Dollinger | 7 | Coach Doc Rivers has inserted Jamal Crawford into the starting lineup for Willie Green, who struggled with the first unit after J.J. Redick went down with a broken hand. Until Redick returns, starting Crawford and shifting Darren Collison into the sixth-man role is likely in Los Angeles' best interest. |
| CBS Sports | Matt Moore | 9 | This team is like The Doors. They're fun to watch and really into what they're doing, but you're not sure any of it means anything. And why does the organ solo go on for so long? |
| Pro Basketball Talk | Kurt Helin | 6 | L.A. went a "meh" 4-3 on an East Coast road swing, although they finished it up by winning three of the last four. The loss to the Nets seemed to sum up their issues: The starting five built up a double-digit lead but once you get into their bench they struggle, then they could never regain their early form. |
| NBA.com | John Schuhmann | 7 | With J.J. Redick out and Jared Dudley struggling, Chris Paul put the scoring load on his own shoulders in Saturday's win in Washington, dropping 42 points (one short of his career high) on the Wiz. The Clips are now 8-0 when Paul scores more than 20 points. They're just 6-6 against the East, but eight of those 12 games have been on the road. They now play 11 of their next 15 at home, where they're 8-2. |
| NBA.com | David Aldridge | 6 | After long road trip, Clips have a chance to make some hay at home, with 11 of their next 15 through mid-January at Staples |
| SB Nation | Jason Patt | 7 | The Clippers stunk up the joint in Brooklyn on Thursday, so Chris Paul said enough was enough when his squad took the floor again over the weekend. In a 16-point win over the Wizards, Paul scored 38 points on just 14 shots, which is just ridiculous. CP3 also had 12 assists just for good measure. |
| Sheridan Hoops | Brian Kamenetsky | 7 | Can't quite bust into the elite but could prove a lot Monday against Spurs. Does signing Stephen Jackson make them better? Well, it doesn't make them worse. As mentioned in intro, a fresh, healthy body is needed. |
| USA Today | 7 | Chris Paul scored 38 points on 14 field goal attempts Saturday. Every child should watch him play. |
| WP | MOV | RPI | SRS | Hollinger | |
| Total | .640 | 4.52 | .536 | 4.52 | 105.035 |
| Rank | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 |