The LA Clippers will host the new-look Dallas Mavs this Wednesday evening at Crypto.com Arena with hopes of extending their winning streak to three. Continue reading for our Clippers Mavs preview.
Game Information
Where: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California
When: 7:00 p.m. PT
How to Tune in: ESPN, Bally Sports SoCal, ClipperVision, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Clippers: Terance Mann – Paul George – Kawhi Leonard – Marcus Morris – Ivica Zubac
Mavericks: Kyrie Irving – Josh Green – Tim Hardaway Jr. – Reggie Bullock – Dwight Powell
Injury Report
Clippers: John Wall (Abdominal) – Out
Mavericks: Luka Doncic (Heel) – Out, Davis Bertans (Calf) – Out, Maxi Kleber (Hamstring) – Out
The Big Picture
All things considered, the Clippers are in a good spot as the All-Star Break approaches. They are healthy, have won eight of their past 10 games (eight of nine if you remove the Cleveland loss in which mostly everyone rested) and are in fourth place in the Western Conference standings. LA hasn’t made any trades at the time of this writing, which means they should have a near-full deck for tonight’s matchup with the Mavericks that’ll include a new look Dallas roster.
The Wednesday night national TV game is an important one. As mentioned earlier, the Clips are currently the West’s No. 4, but a loss would drop them to No. 6 by the night’s end. The margins are thin and they’ll need to put together a full 48 minutes of good basketball – something they haven’t done much lately. But if the Clippers can, they should go into Thursday’s trade deadline winners of three straight games.
The Antagonist
For the first time in a long time, the Clippers will face the Mavericks without having to worry about Luka Doncic. But the same defensive principles might apply for newly-acquired Kyrie Irving, who presents much of the same challenges for Ty Lue’s squad as far as one-on-one scoring goes. Irving doesn’t bring the same kind of playmaking chops, however, but that doesn’t mean the Clippers can afford to let up on the others. Josh Green is enjoying the best stretch of basketball of his young career, and his career-best 29-point showing against Utah on Monday should give him further confidence entering tonight’s game. The same is true for rookie Jaden Hardy, and guys like Christian Wood and Tim Hardaway are more than capable of exploding offensively.
Without Doncic and as new players get integrated, Dallas isn’t necessarily supposed to win this game. But that doesn’t mean the Clippers don’t need to show up. As they saw in Brooklyn on Monday, focus is required at all times.
Clippers vs. Mavs Game Notes
- The Trade Deadline: Games around this time of the season are weird. With players’ names being put in rumors, the vibes aren’t always there. There haven’t been many glaring signs yet with this Clippers roster – Terance Mann was offered in a trade package to Brooklyn, but two days later performed as if he was unfazed – but you never know how emotions could get as the deadline inches closer. Hopefully, everyone is in a good place mentally ahead of what is an important game in the standings.
- Back at Crypto: The Clippers have been almost as good on the road as they have at home. You can look at that in multiple ways, but I see it as them needing to be better on their home floor. A 14-11 record isn’t bad but it’s unimpressive. And we all know how awkward the first game back home after a long road trip can be. It’ll be interesting how the starters open this game; it could indicate what kind of game we’ll get from LA.