The Clippers finally have had two days off in a row after an absolutely brutal stretch of games, and now take on one of the worst teams in the league in the Oklahoma City Thunder. Keep reading for a full preview of the Clippers’ road contest against the Thunder.
Game Information
Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
When: 5:00 PM PT
How to Watch: Bally Sports SoCal
Projected Starting Lineups
Clippers: Reggie Jackson – Luke Kennard – Terance Mann – Marcus Morris – Ivica Zubac
Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Aaron Wiggins – Josh Giddey – Darius Bazley – Derrick Favors
Injuries
Clippers: Kawhi Leonard Out (Knee), Jason Preston Out (Foot), Nic Batum Questionable (Ankle), Paul George Questionable (Elbow), Serge Ibaka Out (Personal)
Thunder: Lu Dort Doubtful (Ankle)
The Big Picture
The Clipper’ win streak ran out on Wednesday night against a very good Jazz team, but the game was still mostly encouraging. Marcus Morris continues to play well, shooting the ball at a high level and also moving much better than he did earlier in the season. Eric Bledsoe has also played strongly as of late, a turn in play that correlates almost exactly to his shift to the bench unit. Playing Bledsoe on ball has helped him find a rhythm on offense, and even his shooting has picked up as a result. Most importantly, the center duo of Ivica Zubac and Isaiah Hartenstein continues to excel, with Zu dominating in the paint and Hartenstein demonstrating his remarkable floater game, passing, and energy. The Clippers are still a team that relies mostly on defense to win games, but with Paul George and Nic Batum hopefully back soon, help is on the way.
The Antagonist
To the surprise of almost nobody, the Thunder are the worst team in the Western Conference and one of the worst in the entire NBA. The Thunder are close to competent (but not quite) on defense, but are the worst offense in the NBA, a team essentially reliant on one player for scoring, creation, and playmaking. That player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is unfortunately having a down season, scoring less than last season on much worse efficiency. With Shai just playing like a good player, instead of a burgeoning superstar (as he did last year), the Thunder are nearly hopeless on offense outside of some outbursts by Lu Dort. Rookie Josh Giddey is a very good passer, but can’t create much for himself and is not a good shooter. The Thunder are young and athletic, and they do have some interesting young guys such as Tre Mann as well as competent veterans like Kenrich Williams and Mike Muscala, but they are very, very bad.
Notes
Boston Fall-Off: After his breakout 27 point outing against the Celtics, Clippers’ rookie Brandon Boston Jr. has cooled off. He shot 3-11 against the Magic, and then 0-4 against the Suns and 0-5 against the Jazz. While Boston has shown plenty of promise, he’s also still a very young second-round rookie, and slumps like this are just part of life in the NBA. When George and Batum come back Boston will probably head out of the rotation, but hopefully the Clippers can continue to turn to him when in foul trouble or are in need of scoring.
Reggie Exhausted: In his last eight games, Reggie Jackson has shot above 50% from the field just once, and above 40% just twice. He’s clearly exhausted, and doesn’t have the fire and verve that he had most of last year and even early this season. The Clippers are too injury-riddled to give him a game off for rest, but once George and Batum are back and re-integrated, it would probably do Reggie a world of good to have a night off.
That about does it for this preview of the Clippers’ game against the Thunder. Post your comments below!
