The Clippers are finally coming back home, but are technically still on the road as they play their first contest of the season against the rival Lakers.
Game Information
Where: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California
When: 8:00 PM PT
How to Watch: NBC, Peacock FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Clippers: James Harden – Kris Dunn – Kawhi Leonard – John Collins – Ivica Zubac
Lakers: Luka Doncic – Austin Reaves – Rui Hachimura – LeBron James – Jaxon Hayes
Injuries
Clippers: Bogdan Bogdanovic Questionable (Hip), Bradley Beal Out (Hip), Derrick Jones Jr. Out (Knee), Jordan Miller Out (Hamstring)
Lakers: DeAndre Ayton Out (Knee)
The Big Picture
The Clippers’ season just continues to trudge along. Kawhi Leonard returned to the Clips on Sunday and looked ok, but was not nearly enough to help them win an admittedly tough game on the road in Cleveland. Perhaps the best element of that game for the Clippers was Zu going off for a monstrous 33 points and 18 rebounds, showing some of the offensive prowess that made him such a force last season, but there was not a ton of other positives. The defense, in particular, continues to not really improve, remaining ranked at 25th in a tie with the Charlotte Hornets (and we all saw how awful their defense was on Saturday). Kawhi needs time to re-integrate, and Bogi should hopefully be back soon, but the Clippers’ defense is so far away that it makes almost everything else moot.
The Antagonist
The Lakers are interesting because they’re 12-4 (tied for the fourth-best record in the league) yet boast the 15th ranked Net Rating. In short, their win total is well ahead of their projected wins, which would have them more as a 9-7 team. Still, the Lakers are at least competent on both ends, and that’s with LeBron James playing just two games so far and both Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves missing a couple of contests as well. The Lakers are getting more than expected from Marcus Smart and DeAndre Ayton as well as really good Jake Laravia minutes, and it’s those supporting pieces that have bolstered the team with LeBron out. The Lakers’ offense will only get better as the season goes along, and while I think the Clippers have some places to hunt on the other end of the court, their defense to this point shows no signs of being able to slow the Lakers’ tri-headed attack.
Notes
Mapping out the Defense: Trying to figure out how the Clippers will defend the Lakers is interesting. Ivica Zubac will guard Jaxson Hayes. That’s easy. After that, not so much. Rui Hachimura is the least threatening of the Lakers’ perimeter players, so you’d think the Clippers would want to stash James Harden on him. They might well do that, but Rui can punish James on cuts and the offensive glass. If Harden is on Rui, then that means John Collins will have to guard one of the Lakers’ stars – sounds bad! I think he could do ok on the “old LeBron” we’ve seen so far. After that, Kris Dunn is a bit undersized on Luka, so him getting Reaves and Kawhi taking Luka makes sense from there. If all of that sounds like the Clippers are disadvantaged on defense almost across the board, that’s what it seems like to me too! Maybe the Clippers will lock in on a nationally televised game against their cross-town rivals. We have to hope so, anyway, or this could get ugly fast.