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Clippers vs Thunder Preview: As Tough as It Gets
The Clippers seem to be close to getting Kawhi Leonard back, but first have one of their toughest games of the year, a road contest against the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.
Game
Information
Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
When: 5:00 PM PT
How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected
Starting Lineups
Clippers: James Harden – Norman Powell – Kris Dunn – Derrick Jones Jr. – Ivica Zubac
Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Cason Wallace – Lu Dort – Jalen Williams – Isaiah Hartenstein
Injuries
Clippers: Kawhi Leonard Out (Knee), Terance Mann Out (Finger), PJ Tucker Out (Away from team), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League), Cam Christie Out (G-League)
Thunder: Chet Holmgren Out (Hip), Alex Caruso Out (Hip), Nikola Topic Out (Knee), Adam Flagler Out (Hand)
The Big
Picture
The Clippers are coming off one of their worst losses of the season, having gotten the absolute snot beaten out of them in San Antonio. That game was a schedule loss in the most obvious fashion, but the Clippers’ lax turnovers on offense and lack of force or intensity on defense was still worrisome. Hopefully it was just fatigue and more of a one-game phenomenon. Overall, despite a few blowout losses and a couple other harder to excuse defeats, the Clippers remain well ahead of expectations given Kawhi Leonard’s health status so far this year. One loss, as bad as the Spurs defeat was, is no reason to panic. Even a similar type of blowout to the dominant Thunder would not be cause for alarm – there’s a large sample size of this Clippers team being pretty solid, and we’d need a real opposing sample size to cause sentiment to swing in another direction.
The
Antagonist
The Thunder have won 12 games in a row (not counting the NBA Cup Final), putting them at 27-5 with a healthy lead for first place in the Western Conference. The Thunder are winning on both ends, as they have the best defense in the NBA (by far) with a pretty good offense. The defense is more of a group effort, as the Thunder play only a couple rotation pieces that aren’t very good defenders or better, and have several All-Defense level players. The offense is much more of a one-man show, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander working his way to the top of the MVP race due to his exceptional scoring, efficiency, and consistency this season. The Thunder are well-coached, play hard, have an amazing home court, and combine superstar talent with great depth. The only two teams in the NBA on their level are the Cavs and Celtics, and the Thunder have a very good argument as the team to beat in the whole league.
Notes
Slowing Shai: Shai is an MVP-caliber player, so he’s basically impossible to stop in one-on-one coverage, even with a couple of excellent options in Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. Instead, the key is to force the ball out of his hands as much as possible and put pressure on his less talented teammates to score and create. Jalen Williams is very good, Isaiah Hartenstein is awesome, and the Thunder have some shooters, but nobody remotely close to Shai’s level as a scorer or playmaker. Sending two at Shai and just trying to scramble as much as possible in help to force the next pass and get the ball to the weakest offensive player on the court is probably the best option right now. Dunn and DJJ are going to get their cracks at Shai, but I hope we see some unique and dynamic coverages on Shai to hopefully keep him at least a bit out of his comfort zone.
Hartenstein’s Revenge: If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: the Clippers passing over Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency in July 2022 is one of the biggest mistakes in franchise history. Having been a great backup for the Clippers that season, Hart turned himself into a proven, reliable backup center for the Knicks before moving to the starting role last year with Mitchell Robinson out. So far this season he’s been the Thunder’s starter with Chet Holmgren out, and he’s been unsurprisingly fantastic. Hartenstein is averaging career highs in minutes (30.1), points (12.7), rebounds (12.4), assists (3.8), and blocks (1.2), and is a lynchpin for the Thunder on both sides of the ball. No longer just a backup, Hartenstein is proving to be a very good starting center for one of the best teams in the NBA. Even if he might not have become this if he’d stayed with the Clippers, Hartenstein would have been worth every penny they’d given him – and the Clippers have not been able to fill the backup center spot since he left. Alas.
Clippers vs Thunder Preview: As Tough as It Gets
Robert Flom