Harden gave everything he had but lost 9 of 10 games! What is the problem with this Clippers team?

In the game against the Magic, the Clippers once again collapsed in three quarters and lost by 28 points. Harden once again scored 31 points and 8 assists. Since then, the Clippers have lost 9 of the past 10 games. So what are the Clippers' problems? This column will help you understand through in-depth data analysis.

The aging Harden has given everything he has. In the past 10 games, Harden has played in 9 games, averaging 29.1 points and 8.3 assists per game, with two shooting percentages reaching 42.8% and 40%. The last time he averaged 29 points per game dates back to his Rockets days, so the Clippers' current problems are not because of Harden, or at least not the main reason.

The Clippers' net efficiency this season is only minus 6.1, which means that they lose 6.1 points per 100 possessions to their opponents. They are ranked 25th among the 30 teams in the league and are absolutely at the lower level. With such a low net rating, it cannot be said that the Clippers are just unlucky and always lose. They really have various problems. So what are the main problems of the Clippers?

When the Clippers defended their opponents this season, their opponents' shooting percentage increased by 0.4% compared to the season average. The Clippers ranked 18th in the league in terms of their ability to reduce their opponents' shooting percentage. Although the reduction effect is not strong, it is not the worst team. This also means that if the Clippers can truly face their opponents' offense, their opponents will not get too many benefits.

But the problem is that many times the Clippers cannot really complete the defense. Take the game against the Magic. The Magic's offensive and defensive transition score reached an exaggerated 41 points, which is far more than the Clippers' 15 points. This means that a large number of the Magic's points are obtained through defensive counterattacks. In this case, the Clippers cannot truly complete the defensive positioning. This is also true this season. When the Clippers face their opponents, their opponents' offensive and defensive transition points per game have reached the league's second-highest 18.8 points.

If it were just that, it wouldn’t be a big problem. After all, each team has different offensive and defensive rhythms. But what will happen to the Clippers lies in the structure of the lineup. The current Clippers basically have various flaws except for individual players: either they are very old, such as Paul Lobatum, or they are very young, such as Sanders Blanc. Risti's old speed and physical fitness do not allow them to run and jump faster. Young people lack experience and awareness and easily get into position without knowing what to do. In addition, except for Harden, they are generally not good at handling the ball. This results in the Clippers' average offensive and defensive transition points per game, which is only 11.7 points, which is the 29th highest in the league. In this alone, the Clippers average 7.1 points per game, which is the second-highest net negative score in the league.

At the same time, what is even more outrageous is that the Clippers' offensive and defensive rebound rates are also at the lower reaches of the league. This means that the Clippers' acquisition rate of both offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds is the lower team in the league. Why is this outrageous? As an old and young team, it is natural to make a choice: if you want to pursue the speed of defensive counterattack, you should launch the offense faster. Doing so will result in insufficient protection of backcourt rebounds and a lower defensive rebound rate; on the contrary, if you want to pursue the protection of backcourt rebounds, then the natural offense and defense transition speed will not be fast enough and the score will drop. However, the Clippers are now in a state where they can neither protect the backcourt rebounds nor make a stronger offense and defense transition.

Similarly, if you want to pursue offensive rebounds, it will naturally lead to an increase in the opponent's offensive and defensive transition points. If you strategically give up rushing for offensive rebounds and choose to retreat, then your offensive rebounding rate will naturally decrease and your opponent will suffer. Scores in transition between offense and defense have also declined. Qualified teams such as the Rockets can choose to maximize offensive rebounds without losing too many points in transition between offense and defense. However, the Clippers are in a state where they can neither grab offensive rebounds nor retreat to limit the opponent's transition between offense and defense due to lineup flaws.

Overall, the Clippers have all the wrong answers in one. Of course, the shortcomings of the lineup cannot be solved immediately, but the Clippers should obviously make corresponding adjustments on which tactics to choose. Otherwise, this problem will not be solved just by Leonard's comeback.