Every so often throughout the Los Angeles Clippers' 112-102 opening-night victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday at Staples Center, it dawned on you. In some moments, it washed over you slowly. In others, it overwhelmed you. 

For the entire night, even when the game remained in doubt, it was unavoidable: The Clippers will eventually have Paul George on the floor.

It is important not to overstate the importance of one game. And not just any one game, but the first game.

Almost the entire season remains, and the Clippers did not get the best version of their counterparts. LeBron James will finish better around the rim and do a better job of protecting the ball. Anthony Davis will shoot better from the floor (8-of-21) as he gets a feel for his surroundings, and, presumably, the Lakers expand his offensive portfolio next to LeBron:

Danny Green will have worse games (28 points, seven rebounds, two steals, one block), but Kentavious Caldwell-Pope won't zombie-walk his way through as many possessions. Or maybe he'll play less. At the very least, he won't defend Kawhi Leonard. Head coach Frank Vogel will find better lineups for the stretches that one or both of LeBron and Davis are on the bench.

Early-season samples are about self-discovery. Only teams that didn't undergo overhauls or add major pieces over the summer are usually spared from trial and error. The Lakers are experimenting with lineup combinations and searching for an identity, and they're not quite at full strength. Alex Caruso or, less likely, Rajon Rondo are potentially refreshing alternatives to Quinn Cook. 

So no, the Clippers did not take down the best version of these Lakers. Not even close. 

Here's the thing: The Clippers aren't even close to the best version of themselves either. 

George is expected to come back from surgeries on his shoulders sometime in November. Returning in the middle of the month would leave him out of the rotation for 10 to 15 games. That's not an end-of-the-world span, but it's not nothing.

The absence of a top-10 player is never nothing. George finished third in MVP voting last year with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Losing him for any stretch would cripple a mediocre squad, and it should stunt the progress of a newly formed contender such as the Clippers.

Emphasis on should. 

These Clippers are not your average contender. They're not even your typical anomaly. Most franchises that are working off a summer coup in which they landed two superstars would want for depth. The Clippers don't. They preserved the skeleton of last season's 48-win team, and on Tuesday night, it showed.

Don't confuse this to mean it was seamless. The Clippers offense looked out of sorts and jagged in the first quarter. The unit shot 7-of-20 from the floor and compelled Doc Rivers to quickly insert Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams off the bench.

That one quarter doesn't portend a larger issue, but we'd be remiss to prepare for the Clippers to win pretty. Even at full strength, they don't profile as the pinnacle of ball movement.

They had just 24 assists on 42 made baskets against the Lakers. Their style is not rooted in aesthetics and complicated gimmicks. They have guys who can shoot, finish, create and defend. Beyond that, they have a handful of players—George, Leonard, Williams—who traffic in normalizing the difficult.

This makeup will work—not just over the long haul, but right now. The Clippers are that well-balanced.

Leonard turned in a relative masterpiece for the first regular-season game in his new digs, tallying 30 points, six rebounds and five assists. Oh, and he played some defense too:

But he wasn't perfect. He was sloppy at times (six turnovers) and finished with five personal fouls. The Clippers won this game because of him, but not only because of him. He had help from all over.

Williams chipped in 21 points and seven assists on 8-of-14 shooting. Harrell put up 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists, a team-best plus-15 and an infinite loop of hustle plays. And in case you're wondering, the synergy between him and Williams remains:

Patrick Beverley continues to be superhuman. His 1-of-7 clip won't earn him any praise, but he grabbed 10 boards and dished six assists. He was extremely aggressive off the dribble and defended with his usual feistiness. His stint on LeBron didn't last long, but in this case, it matters more that the Clippers felt emboldened, if desperate, enough to try that in the first place.

Less in your face, yet just as important, were the contributions the Clippers got from the margins of their rotation.

Ivica Zubac was basically played out of the game early in the first quarter thanks to the Lakers' front line. That left the Clippers to lean on JaMychal Green, Moe Harkless and Patrick Patterson. The trio wasn't perfect. Patterson specifically didn't come alive, save for a few second-half bright spots, and neither Green nor Harkless (nor Patterson) was an ideal match for Davis.

Still, the frontcourt platoon worked. Both Harkless and Green had their moments on Davis. Harkless in particular was all kinds of useful. He broke up a bunch of plays in the half court, probably did the best job of anyone when tussling with Davis and finished with four steals and two blocks. He and Green combined to go 6-of-10 from downtown.

Not every game will be like this for the Clippers' non-stars. Green and Harkless are iffy-to-solid low-volume three-point shooters on most nights. The team isn't built to consistently win the rebounding battle—on the offensive glass, perhaps, but not the defensive boards. It will be harder to close games with Harrell against certain teams.

And yet, this Rule of Opening night works both ways. Beverley will shoot better. Landry Shamet won't seem so lost in the shuffle. Leonard will hit more of his threes (1-of-5). Zubac won't be rendered unplayable by every opposing frontcourt. 

The chemistry, between everyone, will improve:

Most importantly, and most terrifyingly, the Clippers will add George. It may take time for him to find his bearings, but his fit projects to be smooth. He is an extension of Leonard: a secondary ball-handler who can subsist on difficult jumpers yet remain just as deadly working off someone else as a floor-spacer.

If you step back and drink in the roster, it's easy see why the Clippers are the most popular championship pick in a crowded title-hopeful field. Their roster is matchup-proof.

The Clippers can play big with Zubac. They can adjust, as they did against the Lakers, and go smaller. They have inverted pick-and-roll options galore. (Kawhi as the screener!) They don't have a conventional point guard, but they have no fewer than four second-tier playmakers, including George. (Keep an eye on Shamet as a fifth.)

They have shooting, they have defense, they have stars—and then the next best thing in Williams. They will eventually have Rodney McGruder (right ankle injury). Their second-stringers outscored the Lakers' reserves 60-19, and that, collectively, isn't a flash in the pan. The sum of their bench will almost always have the edge over its opponent.

And when George returns, the Clippers will have just about everything—arguably, if not certainly, the NBA's most complete roster from top to bottom.

In the meantime, it's tough to tell which says more about the hold they'll come to have over the championship discussion: what they'll look like upon George's return, or all they're already capable of without him.

Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference or Cleaning the Glass. Salary and cap-hold information via Basketball Insiders, RealGM and Spotrac.

Former Detroit Pistons head coach turned NBA TV and TNT broadcaster, Stan Van Gundy, joins “The Full 48 with Howard Beck” to discuss game evolution, defensive trends, the 4-point shot, the coach’s challenge, Dwight Howard and the Lakers, and the Detroit Pistons.