The Clippers Just Became The West’s Worst Nightmare | HHT 73
On the 73rd episode of Hot Hand Theory, Geoff and XJ break down the Los Angeles Clippers’ shocking resurrection from 6-21 to the Western Conference’s most dangerous potential play-in team, and reveal why everyone who wrote them off completely missed the signs.
The Clippers went 1-10 after Kawhi Leonard returned, then lost Ivica Zubac to injury—and haven’t lost since. Brook Lopez returned from DNPs shooting 44% from three, Nic Batum jumped to 25 minutes per game, and the defense skyrocketed from 26th to top-5 over the past two weeks. But this isn’t luck: opponents were shooting 41% on wide-open threes against them (catastrophic shooting luck that was always going to regress to the mean), and the supporting cast depth finally clicked.
We explore why Kawhi might be a top-3 or top-4 player for a playoff run if fully healthy (ahead of everyone except peak LeBron, Steph, and Jokic), why blowing it up and tanking never made sense for the Clippers, and why no Western Conference contender wants to see them in April.
We cover:
🔹 Why Kawhi is playing at an elite two-way level at 34 years old
🔹 How losing Zubac paradoxically saved the season
🔹 Defense jumping 26th → top-5 over the past two weeks
🔹 Why tanking was never an option
🔹 Brook Lopez + Nick Batum shooting surge
🔹 Why the Clippers might be scarier than last season’s playoff team
💬 Let us know in the comments: Are the Clippers the West’s worst nightmare?
If you value strategic analysis over hot takes, subscribe and catch every episode.
#LosAngelesClippers #Clippers #KawhiLeonard #JamesHarden #LAClippers #BrookLopez #IvicaZubac #NicBatum #HotHandTheory #NBAPodcast #NBAAnalysis #ClippersBasketball #NBA #clippersnation
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Timestamps:
0:00 | Preview: The Los Angeles Clippers
1:17 | Introduction–
2:00 | Analyzing the Clippers’ resurgence
5:15 | Is Peak Kawhi Leonard back?
9:15 | Why tanking was never an option in LA
12:30 | Was Ivica Zubac’s injury a blessing in disguise?
16:30 | Shooting luck has underrated the Clippers’ defense
20:45 | Why James Harden is isolating more than ever
26:29 | Like, comment, and subscribe!
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16 Comments
Rocking a Charlotte’s hoodie is diabolical lol.
Disagree with the title yall. They were already the West's nightmare because it was looking like OKC was getting a top 5 pick. 😂😂😂
Yo guys! Where do you think the Clippers finish in the standings? Drop your prediction.
Not fair to over react just bcuz Kawhi decided to play basketball for the past 2 weeks. We have all seen this story before. If clippers and Jazz played a series right now it would go 7 games..
It is not luck!! It is Brook Lopez!!! He chanfed it all!!! JAMES HARDEN also said so!!!
Jones Jr being back healthy helps as he is an elite athlete on both ends and Batum is someone i liked as a quality role player that hits open 3s and defend multiple positions which is valuable in today's NBA!
1. Kobe Sanders is the 1st rookie to get regular rotation minutes under Ty Lue maybe ever. Hes very much like a younger Batum ish connector for us. Bro has sneaky game.
2. Yanic Konan Niederhauser is legit and he will be taking some of Brook Lopez minutes in games against athletic rim running bigs when Zu comes back. Highest +/- on the team vs the Jazz and played the last 15 min of a game Lopez goes 0-11 from 3. Yeah I said it. 2 rookies COOKIN! Thats also contributed to this streak. 3. Kris Dunn is having the best season of his career. He continues to play like this on both sides of the ball, watch out. Ralph Lawler voice HERE COME THE CLIPPERS
I was going to subscribe until I heard homie say Steph's name in that list of phenomenal 2-way players list 😮
Life long Clipper fan. Effor and Defense. Theyre okaying with a different intensity and theyre making the effort rotations on defense. Kawhi being super aggressive also helps
the spurs beat okc twice
Fun video, thanks for the work! Last year Dunn was the funnel spot due to his poor shooting. For a team that relies on heavy iso and its relative inefficiency to other shots, how can they overcome the offensive weakness
Last night Kawhi and the team played pretty well in the 4th without Harden fyi
Maybe that Harden/Zubac-focused offense was the problem. As soon as that was elimanated the floor opened up for Kawhi. Changes need to be made when Zu return. We can't revert. Let him and harden be the focus when Kawhi sits. Let Batum and them youngins run with Kawhi.
Not a hot take. Healthy Kawhi is the best in the league both sides of the court.
They started winning when they got rid of CP3
You guys made some very good points. My take is that they caused Zubac's drop off from last season by trying to feature him on offense too much. Zubac got praise for his play at the defensive end last season. Ty Lue started trying to feature Zu as the third best offensive option in the lineup and that is not his game. Fans started calling him names like Zu Abdul Jabbar which took his focus away from what he did best last year. Zubac was getting frustrated when teams took away his hook shot or when he did not get the foul calls wanted. Also Lue showed he was not on the same page as Lawrence Frank by not playing Lopez enough to get in rhythm as well as only playing Collins 24 minutes per game. Even though Collins was productive with those minutes. I did not think Bradley Beal earned a starting position from the start.