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Clippers vs Nuggets Game Preview: Coming off a Long Rest
The Clippers finally got a few days of rest, but are still quite short-handed and playing on the road against the Nuggets and defending MVP Nikola Jokic, who is on a roll even by his standards right now.
Game Information
Where: Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado
When: 6:00 PM PT
How to Watch: FanDuel Sports Network, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Clippers: James Harden – Norman Powell – Kris Dunn – Nic Batum – Ivica Zubac
Nuggets: Jamal Murray – Christian Braun – Michael Porter Jr. – Aaron Gordon – Nikola Jokic
Injuries
Clippers: Kawhi Leonard Out (Knee), Terance Mann Out (Finger), Derrick Jones Jr. Out (Hamstring), Kobe Brown Out (Back), PJ Tucker Out (Away from team), Cam Christie Out (G-League), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League)
Nuggets: Aaron Gordon Probable (Calf), Christian Braun Probable (Quad), Jamal Murray Questionable (Hamstring), Dario Saric Out (Ankle), Vlatko Cancar Out (Knee), DaRon Holmes Out (Achilles)
The Big Picture
An extended rest could not have come at a better time for the Clippers, who went from relatively healthy outside of Kawhi Leonard to extremely banged up in less than a couple weeks. Fortunately, even though Terance Mann and Derrick Jones will be out for a bit, other guys who sat against the Rockets on Monday are playing, including James Harden, Amir Coffey, and Mo Bamba. The Clippers are thus short-handed, but should still have enough hands on deck to be competitive until the return of the cavalry – including Kawhi himself hopefully – around New Year’s. The biggest worry is that the Clippers’ defense, which has been their calling card all season, will take too big a hit with the losses of Jones and Mann, but the Clips will just have to hold on.
The Antagonist
The Nuggets have dealt with injuries this season too, though
not quite as many as the Clippers. Their main issue is that Jamal Murray has played
far below his usual standards and some of their veteran depth signings have not
worked out well. The plus for the Nuggets is that they still have a record over
.500 (12-10), good for 7th place in the West, and have the best
basketball player in the world on their team. In response to his lackluster
teammates, Nikola Jokic has put together perhaps his finest season yet, with
absolutely staggering numbers of 32.3 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 10.2 assists
per game while shooting 56.1% from the field and 50% from three (4.4 attempts
per game). There just aren’t words for what he’s doing on a nightly basis, and
his sheer excellence right now makes the Nuggets a contender almost by default
despite the deficiencies of the rest of the roster. Other players on the team –
Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun most notably – are having strong
seasons, but the Nuggets are Jokic’s team more than any other squad we’ve seen
since prime LeBron.
Notes
Starting Unit Change: Derrick Jones Jr. has been the starter at power forward all season, and the first question will be who steps in to replace him. In terms of size and logical fit, the answer is probably Nic Batum, who is the only other healthy forward on the roster. It’s possible Ty Lue decides to juice the offense by starting Amir Coffey and keeping Nico’s stability on the second unit – he has stated the Clippers might roll out multiple different starting units with DJJ out – but against the large Nuggets I think Nico is the smart bet.
Other Rotation Choices: Regardless of whether Nico or Amir starts, that leaves the bench unit as the other of those two, Kevin Porter Jr., Jordan Miller, and Mo Bamba. The question then becomes: does Ty Lue play Bones Hyland as well as the 10th man, or does he cut the rotation to 9? Ty has mostly liked to play 10 guys this year, but there’s no question a Bones-Porter backcourt would be tiny and duplicative. Figuring out a few minutes to get Bones in when Porter Jr. isn’t in the game might work, but those are usually minutes Norm or Harden is in as well. I’m curious to see if Bones plays or not. Even though I remain a fan of Bones’ game, the rotations might be cleaner if he’s not in it. We will just have to wait and see.
Clippers vs Nuggets Game Preview: Coming off a Long Rest
Robert Flom