It’s Game 76 of the NBA season for the Clippers, and it’s also their most important, as they square off against the team directly behind them in the standings, the Portland Trailblazers.
Game Information
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California
When: 8:00 PM PT
How to Watch: NBC, Peacock, FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Blazers: Scoot Henderson – Jrue Holiday – Deni Avdija – Toumani Camara – Donovan Clingan
Clippers: Darius Garland – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – John Collins – Brook Lopez
Injuries
Blazers: Jerami Grant Out (Calf), Shaedon Sharpe Out (Calf), Damian Lillard Out (Achilles), Vit Krejci Out (Calf)
Clippers: Yanic Konan Niederhauser Out (Foot), Bradley Beal Out (Hip)
The Big Picture
The Clippers have won five games in a row, reaching three games over .500 for the first time this season. It’s been a remarkable turnaround for a group that started the season 6-21 and looked every bit that bad. Of course, who is playing on a nightly basis is almost completely different from those dog days of November. Darius Garland is lighting the world on fire as the Clippers’ starting point guard, Bennedict Mathurin is drawing a million free throws off the bench, and Jordan Miller, Isaiah Jackson, and Kobe Sanders are filling in the gaps. However, the guy driving the Clippers’ success more than anyone is Kawhi Leonard, who might somehow, incredibly, be putting together the best regular season of his storied career. It’s been a treat to watch Kawhi work on a nightly basis, and that should not get lost amidst the playoff push and standings watching.
The Antagonist
For a team that’s been mostly competent all season, the Blazers might have received less coverage than almost any other NBA team. They didn’t make any major trades, they haven’t had any shocking injuries, and they have rarely been really good or really bad for significant stretches. They have been fine. That’s it, and that’s all. Deni Avdija’s leap to All Star level player has been their biggest development, followed by second-year big man Donovan Clingan’s arrival as a true starting-caliber center. Outside of that, Jrue Holiday has been pretty good, Scoot Henderson has shown flashes but been inconsistent, and Toumani Camara has disappointed on offense. Their fringe players are totally ok, with Robert Williams being the most impactful of the bunch when he’s healthy. With the 20th overall Net Rating (12th on defense, 23rd on offense), there truly might not be a more nondescript team than these Blazers.
Notes
Biggest Game of the Season: Well, here we are. Tonight is the Clippers’ most important game of the season, as they square off against the team directly behind them in the standings with only six games left after this one. If the Clippers win, they will be 2.5 games up on the Blazers (with another game against them left to play). If they lose, their lead will shrink to just a half-game, leaving them with zero margin the rest of the season. Hopefully the Clippers come out hard, because the Blazers almost certainly will. And, as Ralph Lawler would say, fasten your seatbelts!
Standings Watch: Outside of this game, the Warriors are off tonight while the Suns play on the road in Orlando. A road game against the Magic is one of those contests that looks tough on a calendar but might not prove to be in practice, as the Magic got waxed in their last game on Sunday and have dropped eight of nine games to fall all the way to 10th in the East. For one night, Clippers fans will be huge Magic fans, as a Clippers’ win combined with a Suns loss would bring the Clips to just 1.5 games back of Phoenix.
