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Clippers vs Heat Preview: Have The Clippers Finally Hit Rock Bottom?
The Clippers lost both games over the weekend, with the loss to the short-handed and offensively challenged Mavericks on Saturday evening seemingly being rock bottom for a truly miserable Clippers season. A road game against the Heat does not seem to be a good opportunity to turn things around.
Game
Information
Where: Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida
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
Heat: Tyler Herro – Davion Mitchell – Norman Powell – Andrew Wiggins – Bam Adebayo
Injuries
Clippers: Bogdan Bogdanovic Out (Hip), Bradley Beal Out (Hip), Derrick Jones Jr. Out (Knee)
Heat: Jaime Jaquez Jr. Questionable (Groin), Terry Rozier Out (Leave)
The Big
Picture
Well, that was bad. The Clippers lost both homes games over the weekend to the Grizzlies and Mavericks, two teams they should theoretically be able to beat at home. Both games were close, but we are well past the point of moral victories, especially since the Clippers blew big leads in both losses. The Clippers are just not good, and that’s putting it politely. It’s hard to say that the season is over considering we are just at the quarter-way mark, but at 5-15, it will be an uphill climb for the Clippers to even make the top half of the play-in. And, honestly, even though they are not far behind teams like the Grizzlies, Mavericks, and Jazz in the standings, with the way the Clippers are playing right now, there’s not much reason to think even a limited turnaround is coming any time soon. The return of Jordan Miller (off the injury report) might help a bit, but this team needs far, far more than that.
The
Antagonist
The Heat are
one of the more positive surprise stories of the season so far, boasting a 13-7
record (3rd in the Eastern Conference) with the 9th best
Net Rating in the NBA. The Heat are winning largely on the defensive end, as
they rank 2nd in the league on that end of the court, behind only
the seemingly inhuman Thunder. Former Clipper Norman Powell remains a driving
force for the Heat on offense, averaging 24.7 points per game while scoring at
an insane 65.3% True Shooting. While Norm has his flaws, through 20 games of
the season, it appears as though the Clippers made a devastating mistake by
swapping him for John Collins and Bradley Beal. It’s hard not to think the
Clippers would be a much better team (though probably still disappointing) if
they had Norm instead of those two. Alas.
Notes
Clippers Out of Answers: Not only have fans been broken, but judging by some of the postgame answers yesterday by Ty Lue and key players, it sounds like the team is just as baffled as how to turn things around as the rest of us. That’s not to say that the team has given up – that’s probably too far – but it is just kind of a fact at this point that the Clippers have no clue how to address their issues. I have no idea what rotation buttons Ty Lue could possibly push at this stage, though I’d imagine Jordan Miller gets some run just to get a different guy in the mix.
What Happens Now: We have heard nothing official that any key Clippers’ decision-makers are in jeopardy of losing their jobs, but fans are certainly on the warpath, and this weekend was awful enough that it truly does seem credible for the first time since the end of the 2023 season that one of Lawrence Frank or Ty Lue might be on a legit hot seat. Judging by fans on Twitter, Bluesky, and this blog, I think the most common sentiment is for change in both the front office and coaching staff. Generally coaches are the first to go in the NBA, but Ty Lue has enough status and credibility that I do wonder if Frank takes the fall and Lue is able to keep going. The inverse could happen, of course, as well as both being let go and neither being let go, although I do think from the outside the current situation appears untenable. I’m very curious if we will get a Shams bomb about the Clippers sometime on Monday.
Clippers vs Heat Preview: Have The Clippers Finally Hit Rock Bottom?
Robert Flom