after what was essentially their training camp with harden and integration period, once terance mann was put into the starting lineup while russell westbrook runs the bench, the clippers have gone 4-1 with an impressive 19 point blowout win over the mavericks yesterday.
that starting lineup has a 117 offensive rating and a 89.5 defensive rating for a net rating of 27.5 which is elite.
they have figured out that separating harden and russ is most effective and have gone away from non-spacing lineups of russ/zubac/tucker.
theis has also been a huge addition as a backup 5 that can space the floor, rebound, playmake on the short roll and set good screens.
for the season they are now a top 6 defense with kawhi and pg playing elite defense like they did in their primes.
i truly believe the clippers can win the west and even the championship and i feel like they’re being slept on right now. kawhi is usually a slow starter and hasn’t even gotten to his peak offensive form which should scare the rest of the league when he inevitably gets going.