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Clippers vs Wizards Preview: Getting the Easy Win
The Clippers have continued to play well, but need to make sure to grab the win tonight in one of the easiest games on their calendar all season, a home contest against the young and tanking Wizards.
Game
Information
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California
When: 7:30 PM PT
How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected
Starting Lineups
Wizards: Tre Johnson – Khris Middleton – Kyshawn George – Bilal Coulibaly – Alex Sarr
Clippers: James Harden – Kris Dunn – Kawhi Leonard – John Collins – Ivica Zubac
Injuries
Wizards: Trae Young Doubtful (Knee), Cam Whitmore Out (Shoulder)
Clippers: Derrick Jones Jr. Out (Knee), Bogdan Bogdanovic Out (Hamstring), Bradley Beal Out (Hip), Chris Paul Out (Not with team)
The Big
Picture
The Clippers
are 8-2 in their last 10 games, making them the hottest team in the NBA outside
of the Phoenix Suns. The Clippers’ winning streak has carried them up the
standings, as they have moved from a tie for dead-last all the way up to just a
game out of the 10th seed. The Clippers’ offense has done the bulk
of the work in carrying the Clippers to victory, with the season-long ranking
now sitting at 12th. Defense remains a bit more inconsistent: the
Clippers are certainly better on that end than they were to start the season,
but remain worse than the sum of their parts compared to last season’s
ferocious defense. Still, the Clippers have retained competence for several
weeks now, and it sure seems as though that competence is here to stay this
time.
The
Antagonist
The Wizards have a good argument to be the worst team in the NBA. The Pelicans, Kings, and Pacers all have slightly worse records, but the Wizards are dead last in Net Rating, boasting the 27th ranked offense and 29th ranked defense in the league. If Trae Young was playing, things might look different, at least on offense, but it doesn’t seem as though Trae will play any time soon, meaning the only veterans in the Wizards’ rotation are Khris Middleton (a shell of his old self) and Marvin Bagley III (a fine bench big). The Wizards do have some real young talent, especially with the mobile and defensively potent Alex Sarr and the sweet shooting Tre Johnson, but that talent is a long ways away from winning NBA games regularly.
Notes
Is Jordan Miller the Clippers’ Needed Bench Scorer: In the five games since Derrick
Jones Jr. went out again and Miller was inserted into the rotation, he’s averaging
11.8 points per game. For the season, on a per-possession basis, he is the Clippers’
fifth best scorer behind only Kawhi, Harden, Zu, and Collins. More importantly,
Miller is getting his scoring done without relying too heavily on foul baiting,
which we’ve seen at times in the G-League, Summer League, and last year in the NBA.
I wish the three-point shooting volume was higher, but he’s 15-35 so far this
year from deep (42.9%) and looks confident shooting out there. Miller’s ability
to get into the paint and finish at the rim is something nobody on the team
outside of Kawhi or Harden has really flashed, making him a breath of fresh
air. Miller might head out of the rotation if/when Bogi returns, but if he
keeps playing like this it will make it awfully hard for the Clippers to turn
away from him. They’ve needed scoring punch off the bench all year, and Jordan
is providing it. Let’s hope he can keep his current play moving forward.
Clippers vs Wizards Preview: Getting the Easy Win
Robert Flom