Blake who? Clippers doing just fine after mega-trade

By Welch Suggs

Going into the All-Star break, the Clippers ran out to a record of 5–2 since trading Blake Griffin, Brice Johnson, and Willie Reed for Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, and Boban Marjanovic. While they remain in ninth place in the Western Conference, they haven’t lost any ground on their rivals.

Part of that has been the standout play of the big man everyone thought the Clippers would trade: DeAndre Jordan. In their last game before the break, against the Celtics, Jordan went for a career-high 30 points including this jam in the third quarter:

https://youtu.be/SoRqc0K_8ks?t=155

This clip shows how Jordan and the rest of the Clippers exploited the Celtics’ inability to guard the pick-and-roll throughout the game. Also, feeding him on the play was new teammate Tobias Harris, one of only two Clippers scheduled to compete in the All-Star weekend festivities.

Jordan also converted an uncharacteristic 8-for-9 from the free-throw line, but his dominant work close to the basket was key to the Clippers handing the Celtics their fourth loss in five games.