Even with perhaps their best defender, Kawhi Leonard, out the entire preseason, the Clippers have still overwhelmed teams on defense.
Throughout training camp, the Clippers have made it their goal to be a tough defensive group, to make it hard on opponents to score, to be gritty and sound on defense.
“We’re getting after it defensively,” James Harden said after Monday night’s preseason 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 has been insisting on high-level play.
“We got to clean up some things,” Harden said. “We want to be perfect. We got Jeff Van Gundy, who’s on us everyday about being perfect defensively, cause that’s like the chance that we have. So that’s our main focus and then as you can see a little bit of glimpse of it [Monday night]. It generated some fast-break opportunities, which we converted. So that’s what we are going to hang our hats off on.”
In four preseason games, the Clippers have allowed an average of just 98 points per game. Only the Brooklyn Nets have scored more than 100 points (106) against the Clippers.
Clippers assistant coach Brian Shaw also credited Van Gundy for helping spearhead the team’s focus on defense.
“I mean, there’s always room for improvement,” Shaw said. “I think that the biggest thing is that Van Gundy has empowered them to be super aggressive in that they can’t make a mistake as long as they’re playing hard. And like I said, being aggressive.”
Shaw said they have top wing defenders in Derrick Jones Jr., Kris Dunn, Porter, Terance Mann and Amir Coffey.
That means the Clippers can defend all over the court and feel comfortable with any of them.
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“We have versatility 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 utilize that strength in their preseason finale Thursday against the Sacramento Kings at the Intuit Dome with Leonard unable to play because of inflammation in his right knee. It’s still unclear if Leonard will play in the Clippers’ season opener at home against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 23.
“He has not been a part of what we’ve been doing on a daily basis,” Shaw said. “I know the kind of company line has been that we’re going to be patient with him. So, he’s doing everything that he can to rehab it and strengthen that knee on his own [and] with our medical staff and we’re just dealing with the guys that we have.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.