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Clippers vs Lakers Preview: Biggest Game of Season So Far
The Clippers have won three games in a row against subpar competition going into the most important game of the season so far, the first of their contests against the crosstown Lakers.
Game
Information
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California
When: 6:00 PM PT
How to Watch: NBA TV, FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected
Starting Lineups
Lakers: Austin Reaves – Max Christie – LeBron James – Rui Hachimura – Anthony Davis
Clippers: James Harden – Norman Powell –Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – Ivica Zubac
Injuries
Lakers: Jarred Vanderbilt Out (Foot), Christian Wood Out (Knee), Anthony Davis Questionable (Foot), LeBron James Probable (Foot), Jalen Hood-Schifino Out (Hamstring), Dorian Finney-Smith Questionable (Personal)
Clippers: James Harden Questionable (Illness), Kris Dunn Questionable (Knee), Ivica Zubac Questionable (Back), Norm Powell Questionable (Back), PJ Tucker Out (Away from team)
The Big
Picture
The Clippers
have won three games in a row, albeit against very poor competition. Still,
vibes are much higher after a previous rough patch, with the defense in
particular standing out against the Heat, Nets, and Blazers. The Clippers’
offense has remained stuck in neutral for the most part, with small stretches
of excellence being the exception, not the norm. Kawhi Leonard played great
against the Nets, his best game of the season so far by a wide margin, and
hopefully that is a sign of things to come.
The
Antagonist
The Lakers rank 6th in the West with a 22-17 record. However, they are, incredibly, 21st in the NBA and 12th in the Western Conference in Net Rating at -2.6. Breaking the Lakers down further, they are 13th on offense and 24th on defense – they don’t stand out on either end of the court. Their record, therefore, is much better than stats would indicate it “should” be. This is a mixture of luck, clutch play in close games, and having a stretch of bad losses that skewed their margin of victory. Logic indicates they are not a very good team… yet they keep winning games. Classic Lakers. In all seriousness, the Lakers have gotten extraordinary health again from their best players, with only fringe rotation players losing much time due to injury. Anthony Davis is having a very good season, LeBron James continues to defy father time in many respects, and Austin Reaves is an excellent third banana. The rest of the roster, well, it’s not great Bob. The Lakers have gotten just enough from their role players to scrape up wins, but the other shoe could drop at any moment.
Notes
Injury Report Weirdness: When the Clippers’ injury report dropped last night, a lot of fans were dismayed to see four core Clippers players listed as “questionable” after none of them had been on the injury report in recent weeks. There are a few possibilities here. First, all of those players really are having issues and are legitimately questionable for this game. Second, the Clippers are thinking of resting a couple players for this game since it’s the first game of a back-to-back as well as the first in a grueling four-in-five stretch, and need to specify a reason beyond just “rest”. Third, the Clippers are just engaging in some mind games with the Lakers. Hopefully it’s the second or third option, because Zu, Harden, Norm, and Dunn picking up injuries/illnesses right before this brutal stretch would be a nightmare. At least Kawhi is fully good to go for tonight’s game, although he will almost certainly be out tomorrow.
Homecourt Advantage at Intuit: This will be the Lakers’ first visit to the Intuit Dome, and I’m very curious to see what the crowd is like. For years at Staples, Clippers’ home games against the Lakers would be akin to a 50-50 split, especially when the Clippers were good/exciting and the Lakers were neither. There were games where it felt like the Clippers had a real homecourt advantage, but most of the time it was down the middle. Compared to the days when Clippers’ home games against the Lakers were packed to the gills with Lakers fans this was an improvement, but I know Steve Ballmer and the Clippers organization hopes that a new, separate stadium will allow for the Clippers to have a true homecourt edge – even against the Lakers. It would be great if the split for this game was more like 70/30 Clippers to Lakers fans. We will just have to see.
Clippers vs Lakers Preview: Biggest Game of Season So Far
Robert Flom