The Clippers close out their mega seven-game road trip with a visit to Phoenix to take on the struggling Suns.
Game Information
Where: PHX Arena, Phoenix, Arizona
When: 7:00 PM PT
How to Watch: TNT
Projected Starting Lineups
Clippers: James Harden – Amir Coffey – Kris Dunn – Kawhi Leonard – Ivica Zubac
Suns: Bradley Beal – Devin Booker – Kevin Durant – Bol Bol – Nick Richards
Injuries
Clippers: Norm Powell Out (Hamstring), Derrick Jones Jr. Out (Groin), Ben Simmons Out (Knee), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League), Patrick Baldwin Jr. Out (G-League), Seth Lundy Out (G-League)
Suns: Bradley Beal Questionable (Calf), Cody Martin Out (Sports Hernia)
The Big Picture
Things have gotten ugly in a hurry for the Clippers, who are staggering out of the All Star Break and accumulating injuries left and right. Norm Powell returned from a knee injury and was almost immediately stricken with a hamstring ailment, which will almost certainly keep him out a couple of games. Derrick Jones Jr. was suddenly ruled out with a groin, and has missed two consecutive games, as has Ben Simmons with a knee injury. Add that all together with a visibly gassed James Harden, a slumping Amir Coffey, and an ice cold Bogdan Bogdanovic and you have a team that is just not very good right now. There’s still time for the Clippers to get healthy and to turn things around, but they are slipping fast in the Western Conference and have not played consistently strong basketball in a while.
The Antagonist
The Suns are the only team in the extended Western Conference postseason race doing worse than the Clippers right now, as they are mired in a 2-8 stretch and can’t seem to get any positive momentum at all. Unlike the Clippers, the Suns’ issues are less about injuries (Bradley Beal is the only key player to have missed time recently) and more about cohesion, effort, and roster construction. Kevin Durant is having a magnificent season for his age, but Beal has continued to look more like “decent starter” than the star the Suns thought they were getting, and Booker is having a down year by his standards. Nick Richards has helped a bit at center, but not enough, and Bol Bol is now in the starting lineup in a desperate attempt to add some juice. It’s a bad time for the Suns, who are not totally out of the postseason race (they would just be 3.5 games back of the Clippers if they won this game) but seem very unlikely to make the playoffs proper despite having the largest payroll in the league. Brutal.
Notes
Can Kawhi Continue to Build: Kawhi Leonard had by far his best offensive game of the season so far on Sunday night, scoring 33 points against a stout Lakers defense on 13-23 shooting with 3-7 from three and 4-5 from the line. More importantly, Kawhi played 40 minutes, his most of the season, showing that his minutes restriction is in the rearview mirror. The defense has yet to catch up to the offense, and the relative lack of free throws is a bit concerning, but that game was a big step in the right direction. The next step is continuing to build on that game and hopefully putting up those kinds of performances more regularly.
Feed Zu: I will continue to write it until the Clippers do it. The Clippers go away from Ivica Zubac in the post far, far too frequently for a team that struggles so heavily with consistent scoring. Zu is not a dominant force on offense – he doesn’t have a deep bag of post moves, and is not the greatest passer – but he is bigger and stronger than most opposing big men and his hook shot is money from seven feet or so and in. When the Clippers are in one of their seemingly endless scoring droughts, going to the big fella in the post should be the first or second option, not last.
The Deep Bench Options: The Clippers are missing three rotation players today, which means that at least one of the Clippers’ deeper bench guys will get some rotation minutes in this game, possibly two. On Sunday, both Jordan Miller and Kobe Brown got short stints in the first half; neither was impressive. Either of those guys could be Ty Lue’s call-up in this one, or it could be veteran Patty Mills. Based just on what players are out for the Clippers, Miller probably makes the most sense as a replacement in terms of skillset, but we will see. Hopefully whoever the 9th and 10th guys are, they can contribute in some way.
