Written by Joe Mags at Bloguin
Lance Stephenson hit his first shot of his first possession as a Clipper — a 3-pointer no less — as the shot clock wound down against the Kings. The much-maligned wing was acquired on the cheap by Los Angeles to inject youthful athleticism to a dusty roster, and maybe, just maybe, he’d regain some of the charm that he fostered in Indiana. Stephenson hit his second shot too — bouncing hard off a screen by Blake Griffin. The possibilities exist for Stephenson to be a fruitful penetrator around Griffin and DeAndre Jordan dunks, sparing regular season wear-and-tear on Chris Paul and adding a second dimension to the Clippers’ already league-high offense.
Alas, the Stephenson question marks have promptly sprouted up after four games. The swingman has made just seven of his last 20 shots, including 2-7 3PA total over four games. He’s attempted three foul shots, and he’s playing only 20.8 minutes per game. He’s averaging 5.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
The good news for Clipper fans is the team hasn’t seemed to be fazed at all. Los Angeles is 4-0 and its potent starting lineup is once again a two-way powerhouse — scoring 116.4 points per 100 possessions and posting a defensive rating of 90.8, per NBA.com. The starters have an assist percentage of 60.5 and assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.42 in 75 minutes. And this is with Paul off to a sluggish start for his illustrious standards.
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