Clippers’ schedule doing them no favors early

One thing about life in the NBA: It comes at you fast. And it keeps coming.

So a seven-game winning streak that was alive less than a week ago can feel like a distant memory after a team has lost three of four games in the six days since.

The Clippers – who are 9-7 entering Sunday’s matinee against Dallas, the first of two against the Mavericks, whose star Luka Doncic is considered day to day with left knee and ankle sprains –– have had more than one day between games just once since they were the last team off the starting line this season on Oct. 21.

Tyronn Lue’s team just concluded one of their five five-games-in-seven-days stretches – of which the Clippers have more than every team beside the Portland Trail Blazers, who also have five. That’s five more than seven teams, who have no stretches with so many games in a single week.

Asked in August about the Clippers’ hefty number of five-in-sevens on Sports Illustrated’s Crossover podcast, and Evan Wasch, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball strategy and analytics, said the NBA wasn’t trying to “be mean” to the Clippers.

“They have five, there is another team with five, there is another team with four, and there are many teams with three,” said Wasch, who also answers to “schedule czar” around the NBA.

He said the league also considers lots of other such metrics, including travel miles (the Clippers’ will traverse 48,008 miles, actually fourth-most in the NBA, per positiveresidual.com), total number of back-to-backs (the Clippers have 14, which is more than 12 other teams) and the location of those back-to-backs (five of the Clippers’ are at least in the same arena).

There’s also the matter of relative rest, such as how often a team plays an opponent on the tail end of a back-to-back, and the Clippers should have the advantage 11 times in that regard – but are at a rest disadvantage 14 times.

“So Clippers and Portland actually are the two teams with the five five-in-sevens this year,” Wasch said on the podcast. “That’s just where the chips fell, but … that just means they’re gonna have more instances of two days off and three days off, because when you compress one portion of the schedule, that, by definition, means another portion is lighter.”

So, theoretically, with 10 two-day breaks – including this coming Wednesday and Thursday, on Thanksgiving – and three three-day breaks ahead, there’s something to be gained for the pain that’s being inflicted now.

Because in the present, the Clippers’ struggle is real.

Although Clippers Coach Tyronn Lue would such reject that crutch – after Thursday’s loss in Memphis, he said, in no uncertain terms: “Fatigued or not, you still can be in the right spots, right positions” – his team looked tired and out of sorts in its 94-81 loss Friday in New Orleans.

The Clippers faded fast down the stretch against the struggling Pelicans, making only 11 baskets and scoring just 26 points – the fewest a New Orleans contingent has allowed in a second half since 2011, the 3-14 Pels were proud to report.

Keeping their heads above water is proving a challenge for the Clippers without six players, including perennial All-Star Kawhi Leonard and major rotation pieces Marcus Morris Sr. and Serge Ibaka, who is expected back against Dallas after a four-game G League stint meant to help the veteran center build stamina and rhythm.

Their depth has been further dinged by absences of supporting cast members such as Justise Winslow (personal) and rookies Keon Johnson (ankle) and Jason Preston (foot). Those missing players are forcing not fully healthy contributors such as Nicolas Batum (Achilles) and Terance Mann (ankle) into the lineup when otherwise they might take a beat to rest and recover.

“I have to (play),” Batum said, via Zoom, after Friday’s defeat. “We have so many guys out. So I had to find a way to play through that and play. So I tried to do it tonight.

“We miss so many key guys, we don’t have the luxury to really relax,” Batum added, taking stock of the 20 point-lead the Clippers let get away in New Orleans. “We don’t have Kawhi, we don’t have Mook, we don’t have Serge yet. So we still really have to focus on those big leads, stay focused and keep playing the right way – don’t change the way we play.

“Because when we play like that, we’re good. We won seven games in a row, we won eight out of nine before. So we showed that we can do it … So now we got to learn from it and get back on the winning side and start something.”

DALLAS (9-6) at CLIPPERS (9-7)

When: 12:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Staples Center

TV: Bally Sports SoCal

 

 

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