Come on, you knew this question was going to show up eventually. The Los Angeles Clippers are 22-7 ever since Blake Griffin was sidelined with a broken hand that happened when he threw a punch at a team employee. There’s still no timetable for Griffin’s return, his name was reportedly thrown around during the trade deadline, and the team hasn’t exactly played like it’s missing arguably the best power forward on earth ever since he went down.

So this brings us to one question: can the Los Angeles Clippers win an NBA Championship without Griffin? Lots of people probably think they can, Chris Paul told USA Today’s Sam Amick much differently,

“We can’t win a championship without Blake,” Paul said recently. “We’re playing for a championship, and there’s no championship without Blake Griffin.”

Logically speaking, yes, the Clippers can only get better with the addition of a player the caliber of Griffin, and yet it’s probably not a coincidence that the only two teams with better winning percentages than Los Angeles since Griffin went down are Golden State and San Antonio. Paul has been brilliant over the last two months – he averaged 21.1 points, 10.4 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.3 steals a night in January before averaging 24.3/9.8/5.0/2.4 in February – while DeAndre Jordan has also played really well in January and February. Guys like J.J. Redick and Jeff Green have also stepped up in big ways with Griffin sidelined.

Basically, it’s probably a little crazy to think that the Clippers can win a title without Griffin. But considering how well the team has played while he’s been out of action, you can’t blame people for wondering what this version of the Clippers could do once the postseason starts.

(via USA Today)