The Clippers will take on Kawhi Leonard’s Toronto Raptors for the first time since they traded him out of Los Angeles, but Kawhi won’t play and both teams are in a tailspin heading into this one.
Game Information
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, CA
When: 7:00 PM PT
How to Watch: KTLA, Clippervision, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Raptors: Immanuel Quickley – Ja’Kobe Walter – RJ Barrett – Scottie Barnes – Jakob Poeltl
Clippers: Darius Garland – Kris Dunn – Derrick Jones Jr. – Rui Hachimura – Isaiah Jackson
Injuries
Raptors: Jakob Poeltl Questionable (Shoulder), Kawhi Leonard Out (Knee), Nate Bittle Out (Foot)
Clippers: Derrick Jones Jr. Questionable (Knee), Brandon Ingram Out (Heel), Max Strus Out (Foot), Yanic Konan Niederhauser Out (Foot), Jordan Miller Out (Calf), Bradley Beal Out (Knee)
Prior Game Recap
Another game, another blowout loss for the Clippers, who are now 1-5 and look like one of the worst teams in the NBA. Reinforcements are on the way – Yanic, Ingram, and Strus were all assigned to the G-League to start practicing, which hopefully means no more than another couple of weeks at most before they’re ready to go – and not a moment too soon. Right now the Clippers are bad on defense, bad on offense, and bad at rebounding. Other than that? Still bad! Kris Dunn, Derrick Jones, and Kobe Sanders continue to turn in mostly solid two-way efforts on a nightly basis, but that’s more or less where the positives stop. It’s still early in the season and expectations were low for this team for a reason, but the past few games have been miserable, and hopefully that at least changes soon.
The Antagonist
The Raptors have also dropped several games in a row after losing Kawhi Leonard to knee issues, shifting rapidly from looking like a contender to a play-in type team. Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles, the young core of the Raptors, have underwhelmed to start the season, especially on defense, while veterans like Jakob Poeltl and Immanuel Quickley have also struggled. Another team that is supposed to be able to survive without Kawhi struggling to do so? That’s a movie I’ve seen a few times before, and am happy to not have to watch again.
Notes
Kawhi Tribute?: People have been wondering since the Aspiration punishment came down what the Clippers would do when Kawhi Leonard returned to town for the first time. We know that fans will boo (though with Kawhi out and presumably not even in attendance, that shouldn’t matter), but how the organization tackles the situation has been a question mark. Despite Kawhi’s years of playing for the Clippers and his moments of brilliance, the Aspiration scandal overshadowing everything at this time makes me think the Clippers will not do a full tribute video. I could imagine maybe a simple banner or note of “Thank you Kawhi”, but not more than that. I do think it would be pretty great if the Clippers didn’t acknowledge Kawhi at all (especially since he won’t be playing or probably even in attendance), but my guess would be they thank him in some minimal capacity.
First Back to Back: This will be the first back-to-back of the season for the Clippers, and I’m curious to see how they handle it. Darius Garland is in his prime age-wise, but is dealing with back tightness and has been historically injury prone, so it’s possible the Clippers rest him or just play him fewer minutes than normal. Or maybe Rui gets the day off since he is coming off a minor quad injury. Derrick Jones Jr. also left the Warriors game with a knee injury, but he was able to walk it off and it looked like a knee-on-knee collision that might be painful but should not linger as a real injury. Honestly, my guess is that the Clippers play everyone and don’t really change minutes too much, but we will just see.