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Clippers vs Pelicans Preview: On the Road Again
The Clippers won three games in a row at home, but now have to go back on the road, which has been much less friendly to them then the friendly confines of Intuit Dome.
Game
Information
Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
When: 5:00 PM PT
How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected
Starting Lineups
Clippers: James Harden – Kris Dunn – Kawhi Leonard – Nic Batum – Ivica Zubac
Pelicans: CJ McCollum – Jordan Hawkins – Trey Murphy III – Zion Williamson – Yves Missi
Injuries
Clippers: Norm Powell Out (Hamstring), Ben Simmons Out (Knee), Cam Christie Out (G-League), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League), Seth Lundy Out (G-League), Patrick Baldwin Out (G-League)
Pelicans: Dejounte Murray Out (Achilles), Herb Jones Out (Shoulder), Brandon Boston Jr. Out (Ankle), Kelly Olynyk Out (Rest), Jose Alvarado Questionable (Hip)
The Big
Picture
The Clippers
have righted a ship that looked like it might be sinking just a week ago,
winning three games in a row against quality opponents at home to put them
right back into a somewhat secure spot in the 8th seed. While it’s
unfortunate that Norm Powell (and Ben Simmons to a much lesser extent) are out,
their extended absences and players not coming in or out of the lineup has also
allowed the Clippers a few games with the same group of players available,
allowing rotations to get some consistent run. The Clippers have put Nic Batum
back in the starting lineup, and that change has expectedly worked. The Clips don’t
want to play Nico too much, but its critical for the Clippers to get all of
their winnable games at this point, and they need Nico to do so – he’s vital on
both ends of the court. Combine Nico’s increased role with incredible stretches
from James Harden and Ivica Zubac and you have a Clippers team that looks
competent once more. Hopefully they can continue building on this.
The
Antagonist
To get a sense of how the Pelicans’ season has gone, you just have to look at their games played numbers on basketball reference. The Pelicans have played 65 games this year but have just one player (rookie Yves Missi) who has played more than 50 games (62). Next up at 50 exactly are Javonte Green (waived and now on the Cavs) and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, a middling backup big man. Trey Murphy and CJ McCollum are at 49, Dejounte Murray (out for the year) is at 31, Herb Jones (out for the year as well) is at 20, and former star Brandon Ingram logged just 18. Thus, the Pelicans, who were widely anticipated to be a playoff team, are instead 17-48 and will be a bottom five team in the lottery. It’s not all bad, however. Murphy is having a monster breakout season in his fourth year in the league. Missi will make an All-Rookie Team and looks like a future starter. Former Clipper Brandon Boston has had a nice season, earning a full NBA deal and appearing to be a potential rotation guy going forward. And, perhaps most importantly, Zion Williamson has been playing the best basketball of his NBA career, with high marks in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks at per-36 rates. If he can just stay healthy…. well, that’s the thing.
Notes
Defending Zion: The Clippers, like many other teams, have long struggled to defend Zion. He was such an insane prospect and has been so talented as a scorer in the NBA because of his unique blend of strength speed, and handle, which enables him to bully smaller players relentlessly and effortlessly blow by larger defenders. The best guy on the Clippers to cover him is probably Ivica Zubac, as their best perimeter defenders are just too small for Zion. Missi can punish teams on the offensive glass, but Kawhi is a solid choice to cover Missi, allowing Kris Dunn to handle McCollum and Nic Batum to take Trey Murphy. At least that’s how I’d line up the Clippers on defense if I was the coaching staff.
Pick on CJ: I don’t always love (or even like) when the Clippers focus on matchup hunting instead of just running their offense, but CJ McCollum is the perfect combination of player for the Clippers to ruthlessly hunt: he’s too small for either Kawhi or Harden, and is too important on offense for the Pelicans to bench. If the Clippers are ever in a dry spell on offense in this one, I’d expect them to go right into attacking CJ with their best players after drawing switches.