Life without Blake Griffin started Monday night for the 2016-2017 LA Clippers. But they’re used to this. And not just the fact that Griffin missed a couple of games previously this season. The Clippers are 41-23 without Blake Griffin in Doc Rivers’ first three seasons (2013-2016). By the end of his current 3-6 week timetable, Griffin will have missed around a full season under Doc Rivers. 3-6 weeks for Griffin = 12-20 games. Could return Jan. 11 vs. Magic, or Feb. 1 at Phoenix. We'll see… 😷 pic.twitter.com/LK29BKNPtW — ClipperBlog (@clipperblog) December 19, 2016 The Clippers got acclimated to the new/old normal by hosting the weary Denver Nuggets, who won at home against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night. The Nuggets were promptly spanked by a Clippers team starting Paul Pierce in Griffin’s place. Clippers SG J.J. Redick tied his season-high with 7 made threes out of 9 attempts, and he made a season-high 10 out of 16 FG attempts for a game-high 27 points. JJ was on 🔥FIRE🔥 last night! He had 27 points & 7 threes in just 26 minutes of play. Efficient. #ItTakesEverything pic.twitter.com/FEHpawo3mT — LA Clippers (@LAClippers) December 21, 2016 LA led by as many as 29 points and never trailed, making 54.7 percent from the field while recording 32 assists on 47 baskets. So. Many. Dimes. 🙌@CP3 dished out 15 assists in last night's win, and was just 2 rebounds shy of a triple-double. #ItTakesEverything pic.twitter.com/GYiTBhy9aL — LA Clippers (@LAClippers) December 21, 2016 Every starter for LA finished in double figures except Pierce, who still hit his season high with 7 points. The starters outscored the Nuggets 51-23 in 18 minutes on the floor, compiling a net rating of 68.8. It was a far cry from how things went in Pierce’s previous start in Brooklyn, and it came off the heels of the masses wanting Brandon Bass in the starting lineup! Tonight marks first game of Blake Griffin's extended absence as the Nuggets visit STAPLES Center. Who would you start in Griffin's place? — ClipperBlog (@clipperblog) December 20, 2016 As for the Nuggets starting lineup of Emmanuel Mudiay-Gary Harris-Danilo Gallinari-Wilson Chandler-Nikola Jokic? That group had 14 minutes on the floor together, and they were outscored 41-15 while making only 5-of-25 FGs (20.0 percent) – their net rating was -82.7. And while Paul was dropping 15 dimes, Mudiay was held scoreless on 9 field goal attempts. There will be more telling tests for the Clippers without Griffin, but as Redick says, the team knows what it’s like to play without him. “Having gone through three months last year without Blake, it seemed like there was some familiarity with our lineup in terms of spacing, and our switches on defense,” Redick said. “I’m hoping it’s not going to be that much of an adjustment because we’ve had to play so much without him.”
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