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Clippers vs Warriors Preview: First Back to Back
The Clippers are coming off their first win of the season, but now have a brutal back to back traveling from Denver to the Bay to take on the red-hot Warriors.
Game Information
Where: Chase Center, San Francisco, California
When: 5:30 PM PT
How to Watch: Bally Sports SoCal/FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Clippers: James Harden – Norman Powell – Derrick Jones Jr. – Terance Mann – Ivica Zubac
Warriors: Steph Curry – Andrew Wiggins – Jonathan Kuminga – Draymond Green – Trayce Jackson-Davis
Injuries
Clippers: Kawhi Leonard Out (Knee), Mo Bamba Out (Knee), PJ Tucker Out (Away from team)
Warriors: None
The Big Picture
The Clippers picked up their first win yesterday in a
phenomenal victory on the road over the Nuggets. It wasn’t a perfect
performance by the Clippers, not by a long shot, but it was an A-effort game,
the likes of which the Clippers will need to hang in the Western Conference postseason
picture without Kawhi Leonard. The Clippers’ offense has been extremely heavy
on James Harden-Ivica Zubac pick and rolls with a steady diet of Norm Powell
off-ball and second-side action plays, and despite the simplicity of a lot of
the actions, the results have been good. Defense is where the Clippers have
truly thrived, and there’s no reason to think they’ll tail off on that end any
time soon.
The Antagonist
The Warriors come into this game on a high, having won their first two games by an insane 77 points. They have been unstoppable on offense and very good on defense, with Steve Kerr playing a 12-man rotation that leans large in the first unit and small in the second unit. They’ve done all this with Steph Curry being quite cold, largely because Buddy Hield has been on an incredible heater. All of this does come with one gigantic caveat: the Warriors’ first two games were against the Blazers and Jazz, who project to be the two worst teams in the West by far, and probably two of the worst seven or so teams in the NBA. Thus, their results must be taken with a large grain of salt. Still, they are playing well and have very good depth with a nice blend of vets and youngsters. And, of course, they still have Steph, who will presumably be the most feared shooter in the NBA until he retires.
Notes
The Backup Center Spot: Kai Jones played just four minutes against the Nuggets yesterday, as Ivica Zubac played 39 minutes to match Nikola Jokic and the Clippers went small with Nic Batum at center in the five remaining minutes. It will be interesting to see what the Clippers do against the Warriors, who don’t have any center like Jokic and do play small themselves on occasion. Jones hasn’t done much to distinguish himself early, but the Clippers’ small-ball units are also very, very small and don’t seem likely to be played in heavy doses. We will see if he plays more in this one, especially on the second night of a back to back, or if his minutes remain extremely limited.
Expanding the Rotation: Through two games, Ty Lue has strictly kept to a 10-man rotation, which he mentioned before the season. However, the Clippers are on a second night of a back-to-back and several key players logged heavy minutes against Denver. This is the first real chance for Ty Lue to go beyond his first 10 guys and look further down the roster, whether that be Bones Hyland, Jordan Miller, or Kobe Miller (the logical next three guys up). I’d love to see any of those players get a shot, especially over the struggling Kevin Porter Jr., but it seems unlikely Ty will go away from anyone this quickly, as he has mentioned his proclivity for 10-game sample sizes many times over the years.
Clippers vs Warriors Preview: First Back to Back
Robert Flom