The LA Clippers travel from Cleveland to Chicago to take on the Bulls for the third game of the annual Grammy’s Road Trip. The Clippers will have their stars—Kawhi Leonard and Paul George—available, so it should be a good one. Check out our preview below:
Game Information
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
When: 5:00 PM PT
How to Watch: ClipperVision, Bally Sports SoCal
How to Listen: AM 570 KLAC
Projected Starting Lineups
Clippers: Terance Mann – Luke Kennard – Paul George – Kawhi Leonard – Ivica Zubac
Bulls: Ayo Dosunmu – Zach LaVine – DeMar DeRozan – Patrick Williams – Nikola Vucevic
Injuries
Clippers:
QUESTIONABLE – Marcus Morris, Sr. (ribs); Robert Covington (personal); Reggie Jackson (achilles)
OUT – John Wall (abdominal)
Bulls:
PROBABLE – Derrick Jones, Jr. (ankle); Marko Simonovic (neck)
OUT – Lonzo Ball (knee); Javonte Green (knee)
The Big Picture
The Bulls are 23-26, the 10th seed in the EEast, and the Clippers will have the two best players on the floor. The Clippers are also, flatly, playing much better over the last ten games, led by Kawhi Leonard, who is returning to All-NBA form.
In a vacuum, the Clippers also have a much better bench than the Bulls (we’ll see what the actual bench looks like when we get the updated injury report). Currently, LA score the third-most points off the bench with 42.7, while the Bulls rank 24th.
In sum, the Clippers should take care of business tonight. They have 14 roads wins this season—the most of any Western Conference team—so not even that should be an excuse.
The Antagonist
On the other hand, the Bulls do have two All-Star caliber players in DeRozan and LaVine. Moreover, Vucevic and Williams will be a handful for Zubac to handle without a true back up and without playing next to a true power forward. If Covington and Morris are unable to go, the Clippers will have to depend on Diabate and/or Brown to rebound and protect the rim – a very tough ask.
Note
Last year, the Clippers lost to the Bulls in Chicago, 135-130, in late March. The Clippers gave up a 10 points lead in the fourth quarter, allowing the Bulls to earn overtime. Even worse, up three with 7 seconds to go in regulation, Terance Mann fouled DeMar DeRozan before the ball was thrown in, so DeRozan got a free throw, which he made. Then, Paul George fouled DeRozan. He hit two more free throws, forcing the aforementioned overtime (in fact, he could have won the game at the line, but he missed his third free throw).
Why do I bring up this game? Well, because there are some interesting parallels, in my opinion. Paul George had just come back from an extended absence due to an elbow injury; Norman Powell was still out with his foot injury; the team was only a few games off of .500; Batum and Morris had been on-and-off the injury report because of ankle and knee soreness, respectively; and on and on and on.
Although it was just one game, it turned out to be predictive of what was to come in the play-in: Terance Mann, for all of his improvement, was still susceptible to immature mistakes. The Clippers ultimately lost in OT because Paul George was unable to play (then, because of a minutes restriction; in the play-in, because of illness). And the Clippers once again came up short against an above-.500 team (the Bulls were 45-32 at the time).
Some of the above issues are apparently solved. For example, Mann has grown as a player this year—even trusted to “run” the starting lineup. And Powell has become a constant; not only healthy, but producing well. But others remain: Batum and Morris are still older players who deal with the occasional wear-and-tear injury; George is still somewhat limited by injuries (though he has looked good recently); and the Clippers still struggle against above-.500 teams, only a few games off of .500 themselves.
The game-changer (excuse the pun), of course, is Kawhi Leonard. The Clippers would not have lost last year if he was available, and they should not this year. These east coast road trips have a habit of revealing how good—or vulnerable—a team is, though. Last year, it revealed that the Clippers were getting healthy too late in the season and were not ready for prime time. This year is to be determined, but we might get a hint over the next few games.
That about does it for this preview of the Clippers’ upcoming game against the Bulls. As always, check out The Lob The Jam The Podcast and Clips ‘N Dip for analysis throughout the week, and follow us on Twitter to watch the game with us!
