Thursday Morning Cup of Coffey, 1/27/22

The Clippers have won two games in a row! Nothing like a couple of wins to make you wake up refreshed–but let’s have a cup of Coffey anyway.

1/26 Results

Clippers 111, Magic 102: LAC climbed back to .500 with a win against the league’s worst team.
Nuggets 124, Nets 118: If Philly is helping the Clippers all week, the Nets have been working against them, losing lots of key games to other Western teams.
Grizzlies 118, San Antonio 110: Memphis is now 8 losses ahead of LAC while San Antonio is 6 losses back. Both of those margins should be safe.
Mavericks 132, Trail Blazers 112: We’ll call this a “win either way” result for the Clippers. Dallas maintains a healthy 3.5 game lead over the Clippers, but LAC’s win coupled with this Portland loss puts the Blazers 4 full games back of the good guys.

Cavaliers 115, Bucks 99: Don’t look now, but the Cavs (!!) are in a homecourt position in the Eastern Conference, and the Bucks are not.
Hornets 158, Pacers 126: The Clippers play these two teams back-to-back on Sunday and Monday to finish up their road trip. With how Indiana is defending, you just hope that LAC has enough gas left in the tank to take advantage.
Hawks 121, Kings 104: Somehow, Sacramento is so bad that a 17-point loss feels like a moral victory.
Heat 110, Knicks 96: The Knicks are probably just not a good team. The Heat probably are.
Bulls 111, Raptors 105: Toronto has bounced back from a bad start to the year to be a respectable play-in team, despite this loss to the East’s 2-seed.
Suns 105, Jazz 97: Credit Utah for competitiveness against an elite team while severely shorthanded, but that will do little to lessen the sting of going 2-9 in their last 11.

Sixers over Lakers: Philly has done the Clippers a lot of favors this week. What’s one more? Both LA teams are currently .500, so the Lakers losing would give the Clippers a narrow edge.
Warriors over Timberwolves: Minnesota has played well lately and Golden State has struggled with Draymond Green out of the lineup, but you really hope the Warriors win at home in this one. A loss would drop Minnesota to .500 and, coupled with a Lakers loss earlier in the night, move the Clippers up to 7th place.

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying is back, and the USMNT is playing El Salvador Thursday night at 7:00 Eastern. That’s what I’ll be watching and tweeting about Thursday evening.
NBA veteran Aron Baynes has been out of the public eye since a dangerous fall in the Olympics last summer and vague rumors that he was temporarily/partially paralyzed. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst details the complete story publicly for the first time, from the mystery surrounding his injury to the harrowing journey of his recovery.
Plugging again because it’s super fun and you’ll enjoy it if you either haven’t subscribed yet, or are a subscriber who hasn’t listened yet: Dr. Shap, Robert Flom, and myself recorded the January bonus podcast for paying subscribers to 213Hoops’ Patreon. For over an hour, we went through the roster and stats of the 2019 Clippers and 2022 Clippers, comparing the talent position-by-position on the two starless Clipper rosters. It was an absolute blast, and subscriptions that provide access to the bonus eps start at $1!

Have a good Thursday everyone!