The Clippers have made their moves at the trade deadline, and now need to work on actually playing good basketball again to break out of their current three-game losing streak.
Game Information
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California
When: 7:30 PM PT
How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Jazz: Isaiah Collier – Svi Mykhailiuk – Lauri Markkanen – John Collins – Walker Kessler
Clippers: James Harden – Norm Powell – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – Ivica Zubac
Injuries
Jazz: Collin Sexton Out (Ankle), Taylor Hendricks Out (Leg), Jordan Clarkson Questionable (Foot), Cody Williams Questionable (Ankle), KJ Martin Questionable (Recent trade)
Clippers: Bogdan Bogdanovic Out (Return to competition conditioning), Kai Jones Out (G-League), Cam Christie Out (G-League), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League)
The Big Picture
The Clippers have lost three games in a row, and it’s probably their most concerning three game slide of the season. Their loss to the Raptors was very bad, their defeat at the hands of the Lakers was humiliating, and the fourth-quarter collapse to the Pacers was frustrating. The Clippers’ vaunted defense has not looked nearly the same, while some of the issues that have plagued them all year – turnovers, stagnant offense, inconsistent shooting – have come back with a vengeance. More worryingly, nearly all of their individual players look tired, discombobulated, or just off, with only Derrick Jones Jr. and maybe Norm Powell playing at their usual levels (Kris Dunn is on defense but can’t buy anything as a scorer). The most nerve-wracking is Kawhi, who has not looked particularly good during this three-game streak. If the Clippers are going to make any noise, eventually Kawhi will need to look like Kawhi, and so far that level of play has come only in short spurts. We need to be patient, but the West is crowded, and the Clippers are starting to fall in the standings.
The Antagonist
The Jazz, somewhat shockingly, made no real trades before the deadline. While they were on the periphery of some larger deals, they were really only involved as a facilitator of salary and minor assets. More significantly, none of their veteran players – Collin Sexton, John Collins, or Jordan Clarkson – was moved off the team. Maybe the Jazz wanted to keep those guys around for some semblance of competence around their young players. Or maybe there just weren’t any good offers for any of those names. But considering how bad the Jazz are and how well Collins and Sexton in particular have played this year, it’s a bit surprising. Considering that the Jazz want to secure a spot at the bottom of the lottery, I’d expect their veterans to sit at an increasing frequency down the stretch of the season. We will see how many of them play tonight, and how much.
Notes
New Rotations: We got our first glimpse of Drew Eubanks in the game against the Pacers, and he looked fine. We also saw what Ty Lue’s first rotations post-departure of Kevin Porter Jr. and Terance Mann looked like, which will change when Bogdan Bogdanovic gets healthy, but are an indicator of what will come. Amir Coffey was still the Clippers’ sixth man, checking in for Kawhi Leonard. Then came Kris Dunn for Derrick Jones Jr., followed by Nic Batum and Eubanks for Norm and Zu. That left Harden with the bench, with whom he played for the last few minutes of each quarter. Then Kawhi would replace Harden at the start of the 2nd and 4th quarters, and the rotations would cycle from there. How Bogi fits in remains to be seen, but it seems like Amir’s spot on the 6th man role is still there, while Dunn has been moved up in the rotation due to the departures of Mann and Porter Jr. What’s less clear is whether Bogdan will displace Coffey, Dunn, Batum, or Eubanks off the bench – or whether Ty will expand his rotation back to 10 while he figures things out.
