Clippers coach Doc Rivers was still raving about the defensive effort the Clippers gave in their 112-91 victory over Denver on Saturday.
But even more impressive to Rivers was it represented the fourth consecutive games the Clippers held an opponent to fewer than 100 points in a game.
“I do like the trend,” Rivers said. “I think we’ve been trending that way for a while defensively and it’s nice. My belief is you can play defense every night, offense you can try to play every night but it might not work out for you. You can miss open shots and just have a bad night, but your defense should always be there. At least the effort.”
It’s not just at one end of the court, either. The Clippers limited Denver to six fastbreak points in addition to the Nuggets’ 35.7 percent shooting from the field.
“We’ve had the effort in my opinion all year we just weren’t in the right places all year and now we’re starting to get to the right places, the right spaces, and our talk defensively has been phenomenal. Our weak side defense has been improving.
“Last night was one of our better nights because Denver runs. Against them that saying a lot . We’re starting to obey our rules, which is nice.”
Opponents are noticing too. It didn’t surprise Minnesota coach Rick Adelman.
“They certainly had the tools to do that, they had the size with (DeAndre) Jordan, and they’re active, and Chris (Paul) has always been one of the better point guards defensively too. It’s just something that as they play more under Doc, they’ll continue to get better defensively.”