Even with arguably their best defenseman, Kawhi Leonard, absent all preseason, the Clippers have still overwhelmed teams on defense.
Throughout training camp, the Clippers have set a goal to be a strong defensive group, to make it difficult for the opponent to score, to defend strongly and solidly.
“We’re going to get after it defensively,” James Harden said after Monday night’s win over the Dallas Mavericks.
The Clippers had 20 steals against the Mavericks. Center Ivica Zubac led the way with four and Harden and Kevin Porter Jr. had three.
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Clippers assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy has been in charge of the defense and is pushing for high-level play.
“We have to clean some things up,” Harden said. “We want to be perfect. We have Jeff Van Gundy, who talks to us every day about being perfect defensively, because that’s about the chance we have. So that’s our main focus and as you can see, there’s a little preview of that [Monday night]. It created a number of fast-break opportunities, which we converted. So we’re going to hang our hat on that.”
Through four preseason games, the Clippers averaged just 98 points per game. Only the Brooklyn Nets scored more than 100 points (106) against the Clippers.
Clippers assistant coach Brian Shaw also credited Van Gundy for helping lead the team’s focus on defense.
“I mean, there’s always room for improvement,” Shaw said. “I think the biggest thing is that Van Gundy has allowed them to be super aggressive in the sense that as long as they play hard, they can’t make mistakes. And like I said: be aggressive.”
Shaw said they have top defensemen in Derek Jones Jr, Kris Dunn, Porter, Terance Mann and Amir Cofey.
That means the Clippers can defend all over the court and feel comfortable with any of them.
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“We’re versatile in terms of guys that can play multiple positions and defend multiple positions,” Shaw said. “So that should be a strength of ours.”
The Clippers will have to use that strength in their preseason finale Thursday against the Sacramento Kings at the Intuit Dome, with Leonard unable to play due to inflammation in his right knee. It’s still unclear if Leonard will play in the Clippers’ season opener against the Phoenix Suns at home on Oct. 23.
“He hasn’t been a part of what we do on a day-to-day basis,” Shaw said. “I know the company line has always been we’re going to be patient with him. So he’s doing everything he can to rehab it and strengthen that knee, just (and) with our medical staff, and we’re just dealing with the guys we have.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
