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Clippers vs Heat Preview: Back to Business
The Clippers are going to be playing with five days rest in unusual circumstances against a tough and competitive Miami Heat squad.
Game
Information
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California
When: 7:30 PM PT
How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected
Starting Lineups
Heat: Terry Rozier – Tyler Herro – Jaime Jaquez Jr. – Haywood Highsmith – Bam Adebayo
Clippers: James Harden – Norman Powell – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – Ivica Zubac
Injuries
Heat: Jimmy Butler Out (Suspended), Josh Richardson Questionable (Heel), Dru Smith Out (Achilles)
Clippers: Kobe Brown Out (G-League), Kai Jones Out (G-League), PJ Tucker Out (Away from team), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League), Cam Christie Out (G-League)
The Big
Picture
The Clippers are in an odd spot right now. Their last game was all the way back on Wednesday, when they got routed by the Nuggets on the road in Denver. In that contest, the Clippers’ collective minds were clearly elsewhere, namely with the fires raging in Los Angeles and threatening (or already consuming) their homes. Then, the Saturday night game in Inglewood against the Hornets was postponed due to the still-raging flames. With the fires more under control and the shock of the disaster having receded a bit, one would expect the Clippers to be in a better spot for this game. Hopefully everyone on the Clippers (not just the players but the entire organization) made it through ok, and didn’t suffer too much in the way of property damage or any other sort of negative impact. It’s still difficult to focus on basketball, but the Clippers will have to do so.
The
Antagonist
The Heat have
had a tumultuous season. Jimmy Butler, who has been the team’s franchise player
since he arrived over five years ago, has demanded a trade, as the Heat won’t
pay him the max offer he wants when he hits free agency this upcoming season.
The Heat have gone back and forth with Butler and his agent in semi-public
forums, culminating in the Heat suspending Butler for seven games (ongoing
currently) and announcing he is available for trades – less than a couple weeks
after Heat president Pat Riley said Butler would not be traded this year. It’s
a mess. Despite all that, the Heat have kept plugging along, as they do. Their
20-17 record might not seem super impressive, but considering all of the drama
it’s a solid outcome… and has them in 6th in the East right now.
Erik Spoelstra continues to turn lemons into lemonade, with the Heat ranking 15th
on offense in the NBA and 10th on defense, good for 11th
in overall Net Rating. Considering how unimpressive their roster is, that’s
pretty remarkable.
Notes
Slowing Herro: Tyler Herro is having a breakout season, launching himself from “good sixth man” and “frustrating but effective scorer” to “All-Star Caliber player” in one year. Herro is averaging career highs in scoring, rebounding, assists, and efficiency, and is doing so on a heavy minutes workload while playing in every game to this point. Impressive. It’s even more impressive considering how little help he’s getting on offense. Jimmy Butler has been effective but quieter than usual and has missed a ton of games. The Heat’s other double-digit scorers are Bam Adebayo, Terry Rozier, and Duncan Robinson. Bam has not played up to his usual standards, Terry has been awfully inefficient, and Duncan is still just a three-point specialist. Thus, Herro has really been the focal point of the Heat’s offense, and slowing him should be the primary focus of the Clippers’ defense. Easier said than done, as Herro is good both on-ball and off-ball and can get scorching hot from deep in a hurry. If Kris Dunn starts, he will probably get the Herro assignment. If not, it will be DJJ. Regardless, it will have to be a team effort to cool Herro off.
Getting Harden Going: Over his last five games, James Harden is averaging just 18.4 points (compared to season average of 21.4), shooting 32.5% from three, and has an assist to turnover ratio of 32:25, or not much over 1:1. While the Clippers have played a couple of very good defenses in that span, some of Harden’s issues are not defense-related, but just the return of sloppiness we’ve seen from him at times, including multiple inexplicable turnovers a game. Harden has been awesome this year for the most part, but he’s looking tired, which is noticeable both on offense as well as on defense, where he’s slipped significantly from the start of the season. Hopefully, as Kawhi gets more integrated and slowly takes on more offensive responsibilities, Harden can return to being more efficient as a scorer and playmaker. In the meantime, the Clippers need him to be better if they are to stay afloat in the West.