The Clippers continue their road trip against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden.
Game Information
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
When: 4:00 PM PT
How to Watch: Bally Sports SoCal
Projected Starting Lineups
Clippers: Terance Mann – Paul George – Kawhi Leonard – Marcus Morris – Ivica Zubac
Knicks: Jalen Brunson – Quentin Grimes – RJ Barrett – Julius Randle – Jericho Sims
Injuries
Clippers: John Wall Out (Abdominal)
Knicks: Jalen Brunson Questionable (Illness), Mitchell Robinson Out (Thumb)
The Big Picture
The Clippers are still slogging through their annual Grammy road trip, and are coming off a particularly tough loss to the Bucks on Thursday night. As has happened frequently this year, the Clippers’ offense dried up in key moments, and their defense could not even contain Giannis Antetokounmpo, much less stop him. Still, a close road loss to a surging Bucks team isn’t a bad result, and the Clippers’ rotations continue to look much more sound than they did earlier in the season despite some hiccups. If the Clippers can just get through the next week, their awful 14 games in 25 days stretch will be over, and the extended All Star Break will be right there.
The Antagonist
The 28-25 Knicks sit in 7th in the East, just outside of the playoff lock positions. They’ve had a resurgent season behind an All-Star campaign from Julius Randle (not a deserving All-Star but having a nice year) and the addition of Jalen Brunson (ditto), as well as a shift from Thibodeau-approved veterans to younger players such as Quentin Grimes and Immanuel Quickley. Part of this shift has been a focus on offense – unusually for a Thibodeau team, the Knicks are above average offensively (9th) but below average defensively (17th). Oddly, the Knicks are better on the road (15-11), then they are at home (13-14), so the Clippers might not be at a huge road disadvantage.
Notes
Luke Out: Luke Kennard was a DNP-CD on Thursday, and appears to be out of the Clippers’ rotation for the first time since very early in the season. Luke missed a bunch of games in early to mid-January, and has been less than impressive upon return, while Reggie Jackson surged in his (and John Wall’s) absence. Ty Lue has kept Terance Mann in the starting unit, and since he continues to abide by the “no three guard lineups maxim”, one of the Clippers’ guards is out. Right now, it seems to be Luke, with Wall apparently not even likely to be on the team in another week or two. Luke has probably been better than Reggie on the year, and is younger, but Ty Lue likes his ballhandlers and Reggie does offer more in that regard. I suspect Luke is out of the rotation again in this one, but it’s possible he e-enters the rotation over Reggie or even Robert Covington.
An Old Friend: The Clippers will square off against an old friend of theirs in this one – Isaiah Hartenstein. Hart has not had a great season for the Knicks, as his scoring efficiency is way down, as is his playmaking. Still, he’s an active, big body for the Knicks’ second unit, and the Clippers have frequently had trouble with those types of players this season. Hart will have a size and athleticism edge against the Clippers’ backup frontcourt of Covington and Nic Batum and could feast inside. However, the Clippers have to know Hart’s weaknesses on defense and attack him – he’s still foul prone.
