Not only are the Clippers proving they belong in the same class as a super team like Golden State, they are flat out dominating the rest of the league, and are one of two teams — along with the Chicago Bulls — that rank in the top five for both offensive and defensive rating.

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Behind a league-best 10-1 record, the Clippers are blowing teams out of the water by an average of 16.6 points per game. After you adjust that for strength of schedule it drops less than three points to 14 points per game above average, more than double that of the Cavaliers (plus-7.4 SRS) and the Spurs (plus-7 SRS) and nearly quadruple what the Warriors (plus-4.8) SRS) have accomplished so far this season. The Clippers’ current 183-point differential is also the fourth highest all-time through 11 games.

It’s easy to point to superstars point guard Chris Paul, forward Blake Griffin, center DeAndre Jordan and sharpshooting guard J.J. Redick and say “well of course this team is good,” but you also have to give credit to Rivers for finally creating a bench that holds down the fort while his stars get a breather.

Rivers has struggled in his role as general manager in the past — it isn’t easy filling out a roster when your top players take up so much of the cap space available — but now there is a significant return on investment.

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The biggest addition has been backup center Marreese Speights, who won a championship with the Warriors in 2015. The 6-foot-10 big man is averaging 9.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while playing 15.6 minutes a night. He’s scoring a robust 1.06 points per possession in the half court while grabbing 1.8 contested rebounds per game. And when sharing the court with the other reserves — Jamal Crawford, Wesley Johnson, Austin Rivers and Raymond Felton — good things happen.

When these five bench players share the court, the Clippers are shooting 41.7 percent from the floor and outscoring opponents by 14.6 net points per 100 possessions, good enough to be the fourth-most efficient five-man lineup among those playing at least 90 minutes together this season. Compare that to a team like the Washington Wizards, whose bench is being outscored by 11.2 net points per 100 possessions, and it is easy to see why one team is in title contention and the other is not even a playoff team. And only the starting rotations from the Clippers (plus-31.8 net rating), Rockets (plus-21) and Trail Blazers (plus-15.3) have been better than Los Angeles’s reserves this season. The Warriors’ heralded super starting squad of Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Zaza Pachulia has a net rating of exactly zero.

The key to the Clippers’ bench success has been its defensive tenacity. The team’s defensive rating goes from 84.1 to 91.1 when the starters get a breather, in part because of the bench’s ability to limit shooting (44.7 effective field goal percentage against) and get its hands on the ball and be disruptive. Los Angeles reserves are averaging 18.1 deflections per game, the third-most in the NBA among reserve players, with only the Warriors (20.6) and Hawks (19.1) showing more hustle.

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“The defense is so good right now our offense is allowed easy baskets,” Rivers told reporters after beating the Brooklyn Nets, 127-95, on Monday night. “They’re angry when the other team scores.”

Los Angeles is scoring 1.25 points per possession in transition this season, second only to the Warriors (1.27 PPP), with Griffin and Paul each ranking in the top 15 percent of the league for transition scoring. And no team has more efficient ballhandlers than the Clippers in the pick and roll. The team is scoring 0.92 of a point per possession, with Griffin and Paul scoring 1.08 and 1.04 points per possession, respectively, this season. Add in Redick’s 43.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc and Crawford’s scoring in isolation, and you have an offense that is one of the most well-rounded in recent memory.

It’s unclear if the Clippers can maintain this historic pace, but if they stay healthy, there is no reason they can’t be the team to challenge Golden State in the Western Conference.