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Clippers vs Hawks Preview: Hello Darkness My Old Friend
The Clippers will find no respite tonight for their struggles, as they take on a talented and surging Hawks team on the road.
Game
Information
Where: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
When: 4:30 PM PT
How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected
Starting Lineups
Clippers: James Harden – Kris Dunn – Kawhi Leonard – John Collins – Ivica Zubac
Hawks: Dyson Daniels – Nickeil Alexander-Walker – Zaccharie Risacher – Onyeka Okongwu
Injuries
Clippers: Bogdan Bogdanovic Questionable (Hip), Bradley Beal Out (Hip), Derrick Jones Jr. Out (Knee), Jordan Miller Questionable (Back)
Hawks: Trae Young Out (Knee), Kristaps Porzingis Out (Illness), Jacob Toppin Out (Shoulder), N’Faly Dante Out (Knee)
The Big
Picture
The Clippers’ loss to the Heat on Monday was a new low in a season full of them. A late garbage time push by Kawhi Leonard made the final score look more respectable than the game was in actuality, with the low point being a 30-4 run by the Heat in the second quarter that effectively ended the game. The Clippers’ defense remained abominably bad, giving up open threes to the Heat time and time and time again. The Clippers are definitely getting unlucky with opponent shooting, but that doesn’t excuse how weak, lifeless, and disconnected they are on defense, and how rote and boring their offense is. It’s just a total mess, folks, and good box scores by Kawhi Leonard are scant consolation.
The
Antagonist
The Hawks, conversely, are riding fairly high. They’re 13-9 despite Trae Young missing most of the season, and are doing it with a combination of strong play on both ends of the court. Jalen Johnson has made the leap into true stardom, regularly scoring 20+ points per game on excellent efficiency while piling up rebounds and assists. His ability to be a true offensive hub has been game-changing with Trae out. Supporting Jalen have been Onyeka Okongwu, who has upped his three-point shooting significantly in the past calendar year and is now a true stretch big men, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who is scoring 20 points per game while providing stout defense on the wing. The Hawks are also getting contributions from deeper bench players with Trae and Porzingis out, with Vit Krejci and Mo Gueye being two notable guys that have stepped up in big ways. In short, the Hawks are just a good team. And playing at home against a spiraling Clippers team, they are massive favorites.
Notes
The Hole at Shooting Guard: The Clippers are getting nothing from their traditional shooting guard slots. Bradley Beal, the presumptive starter, played just six awful games before going out for the season with injury. Bogdan Bogdanovic, who seemed like a terrific backup for Beal, has played just nine games due to various injuries, and has only been effective in a few of those games. Jordan Miller, the two-way player that is behind Bogi, has logged only four games because of hamstring injuries. That has forced Kobe Sanders and Cam Christie into action, and while the youngsters have had some flashes, on the whole both are not ready to be NBA rotation players on good teams. The lack of scoring, playmaking, and ballhandling has been evident all season, and until Bogi and Jordan get healthy and stay healthy, it’s likely to remain that way.
Getting a Complete Game: One reason the Clippers’ season has felt so frustrating is that it seems like they have a lot of players who are having at least *ok* seasons, but are just so inconsistent that they can’t line up good performances in one game. If the Clippers can just get more than three of their key players to have strong outings in one game, they’d look a lot better. Maybe it happens tonight, but with the way things are going, maybe not.
Clippers vs Hawks Preview: Hello Darkness My Old Friend
Robert Flom