The Clippers are 3-2 in their first five games, and face a tough test tonight against the visiting Miami Heat.
Game Information
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California
When: 7:30 PM PT
How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Heat: Davion Mitchell – Pelle Larsson – Andrew Wiggins – Bam Adebayo – Kel’el Ware
Clippers: James Harden – Bradley Beal – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – Ivica Zubac
Injuries
Heat: Tyler Herro Out (Foot), Terry Rozier Out (Suspension), Norm Powell Questionable (Groin), Kasparas Jakucionis Questionable (Ankle)
Clippers: Jordan Miller Out (Hamstring), Kobe Sanders Out (Knee)
The Big Picture
The Clippers scratched out a win against the Pelicans on Friday in the first game of the NBA Cup, but it was not pretty. They got terrific offensive performances from Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and Ivica Zubac as well as solid supporting appearances from role players, but the defense was extremely questionable, and the bench units struggled. A game-winner like the one Kawhi Leonard had can bring teams together, and an optimistic take would be that the Clippers’ camaraderie and morale will improve after such a fun win. A pessimistic viewpoint is that the Clippers’ defense might not recover due to the addition of ancient or defense-averse players, and that some of those older players might be close to washed. Once we are at the 10 to 15 game sample size, we will know more.
The Antagonist
What is dead may never die. The words of house Greyjoy, and also of the Miami Heat, who seemingly never have a ton of talent and yet are always anywhere from competent to very good. It’s early and net rating will vary wildly from game to game, but the Heat are top five in net rating, ranking 3rd on defense and 7th on offense despite missing Tyler Herro. Most of the Heat’s success can be attributed to the brilliance of Erik Spoelstra, with Bam Adebayo’s defense and a cadre of solid veterans keeping them in a lot of games as well. The Clippers have a lot more talent than Miami, but will it matter?
Notes
Norm Revenge Game: This will be Norm Powell’s first game against the Clippers since his trade this past summer, and knowing Norm, he will have a big chip on his shoulder about it. The Clippers should know all of Norm’s ins and outs as a player, so I’d like to see them force him into making decisions with the ball in his hands while targeting him extensively on the other end of the court. It will be nice to see Norm get his ovation from Clippers’ faithful, but I’d like for him to not torch the Clips in this one.
Get Beal Going: If you had to sum up the Clippers’ offensive issues so far this year, I think the crux of it would be lack of secondary ballhandling and playmaking outside of James Harden. To put it more bluntly, Bradley Beal, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Chris Paul have all been ineffective on offense. Bogi is out of the healthy rotation and Paul is basically just spelling Harden, but the Clippers need more from Beal. Even if he’s not close to prime Beal, better shotmaking would help a ton. The thing with Beal is he’s still getting to his spots and a lot of his movement looks smooth; he’s just not hitting shots. I would like to see the Clippers try to get Beal some easy shots early, boost his confidence, and hopefully help him have a breakout game, even with his minutes restriction.
Know Your Personnel: The Pelicans’ game was insanely frustrating to watch from a Clippers’ vantage point, as they kept leaving the Pelicans’ best shooters (Trey Murphy and Jordan Poole) wide open, even after those guys were clearly on heaters. The Clippers’ defense would have looked so much better if they’d just been smarter about rotations and recoveries to the correct players and not given the Pelicans wide open looks from guys who were scorching. The Heat have good shooters (we all know what Norm Powell can do), and the Clippers just can’t look as shoddy defensively tonight as they did on Friday and hope to win.
