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Clippers vs Thunder Preview: Can the Clippers Keep the Win Streak Going?
The Clippers have won five games in a row, but face their toughest contest so far against the league-best Oklahoma City Thunder.
Game
Information
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, CA
When: 6:00 PM PT
How to Watch: NBA TV, KTLA, AM 570
Projected
Starting Lineups
Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Cason Wallace – Aaron Wiggins – Chet Holmgren – Isaiah Hartenstein
Clippers: James Harden – Norm Powell – Kris Dunn – Kawhi Leonard – Ivica Zubac
Injuries
Thunder: Jalen Williams Questionable (Hip), Lu Dort Questionable (Hip), Ousmane Dieng Questionable Calf), Ajay Mitchell Out (Knee), Nikola Topic Out (Knee),
Clippers: Jordan Miller Out (Hamstring), Cam Christie Out (G-League), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League), Seth Lundy Out (G-League), Patrick Baldwin Out (G-League)
The Big
Picture
While the
Clippers’ five-game winning streak has not gained them much ground on the
Warriors or Timberwolves on either side of them, it has done two very important
things. First, it has firmly insulated them as no lower than the 8th
seed – with a 4.5 game lead on the Kings with just 12 games to go, it would take
an insane collapse for the Clippers to fall below Sacramento. Second, the
Clippers’ surge has coincided with the slowing of several teams further ahead
of them – Memphis, the Lakers, and Denver. They’re still 3.5 games behind the
Lakers and Nuggets, and 2.5 behind the Grizzlies, but they have the series win
against the Grizzlies and have at least an outside chance of catching the other
teams as well, with the Nuggets looking particularly vulnerable due to Jokic’s injuries.
If the Clippers can just keeping winning at a steady rate, they have a real
chance of passing at least one team for 6th, which is all they need.
The
Antagonist
The Thunder have been the best team in the NBA basically all season. At 58-12, they’ve clinched the Western Conference with three weeks to go, and have a two-game lead on the Cavs for the best record in the entire league. That the Thunder have been able to do all that with major injuries to their roster (Chet Holmgren has missed 46 games, Isaiah Hartenstein 22, Alex Caruso 25, and Jalen Williams nine and counting) says a lot about their depth, coaching, and the superstar play of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Shai has come a long way from when he was a promising rookie on the joyous 2019 Clippers. He’s the rightful MVP frontrunner, will be an All-NBA 1st Team honoree for the third straight season, and is putting together one of the best stretches of guard play this century. He will need Chet, and Jalen, and Hartenstein, and the rest of the Thunder crew to make the deep playoff run the Thunder have been building towards, but Shai is, to put it simply, that guy, and his carrying the Thunder to a record in the mid-60s is a remarkable accomplishment.
Notes
Guarding Shai: The Clippers, like every team in the NBA, will have their hands full with Shai, who is leading the league in scoring at 32.9 points per game while scoring at an insane 64.6% True Shooting efficiency. The Clippers are almost certainly going to start Kris Dunn on Shai, and will rotate in Derrick Jones for Dunn in their standard rotations. Nic Batum and Ben Simmons will probably get looks on Shai as well. But ultimately, especially with Jalen Williams out, the Clippers’ best bet is probably just to get the ball out of his hands entirely through doubles and traps. While the Thunder’s main rotation players are better three-point shooters than Dunn or DJJ, I’d also be fine if the Clippers left Chet, Jaylin Williams, Kenrich Williams, and Alex Caruso largely alone from three to protect the paint from Shai, Chet, and Hartenstein. I’ll be curious to see how the Clippers approach the Thunder on defense, because letting Shai force switches on the Clippers’ weaker perimeter defenders won’t be tenable, and he’s too good at doing that if you let him see one coverage for an extended time.
Bogi With the Starters: The Clippers moved Bogdan Bogdanovic in with the starting group to begin the third quarter against the Grizzlies in place of Dunn, as the Grizzlies were helping off Dunn (and DJJ) to such a large extent that it was throwing the Clippers’ offense off. That unit with Bogi was extremely effective, and it is just a dynamite group on offense with tons of shooting and ballhandling. The questions are on defense, with Bogi, Norm Powell, and James Harden being a rather poor group of perimeter defenders. I think the Clippers should continue going to this lineup as needed, but that’s an instance of a group that I just think has no chance of guarding Shai, so I’m not sure how feasible that unit will be in this game.
Clippers vs Thunder Preview: Can the Clippers Keep the Win Streak Going?
Robert Flom