The L.A. Clippers open up the 2021-22 NBA regular season on the road against the Golden State Warriors (1-0) Thursday night. Read on for our full Clippers vs. Warriors game preview.
Clippers vs. Warriors Game Information
Where: Chase Center, San Francisco, California
When: 7 p.m. PT
How to Tune in: TNT, KEIB AM 1150, KTMZ
Projected Starting Lineups:
L.A. Clippers: Eric Bledsoe – Reggie Jackson – Paul George – Marcus Morris Sr. – Ivica Zubac
Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry – Jordan Poole – Andrew Wiggins – Draymond Green – Kevon Looney
Injury Report:
L.A. Clippers: Nicolas Batum – OUT (Personal Reasons), Serge Ibaka – OUT (Low Back Surgery – Rehab Assignment), Keon Johnson – OUT (Illness), Kawhi Leonard – OUT (Right Knee ACL – Rehab Assignment), Jason Preston – OUT (Right Foot Injury)
Golden State Warriors: Jonathan Kuminga – OUT (Right Knee Patellar Tendon Strain), Klay Thompson – OUT (Right Achilles Tendon Repair), James Wiseman – OUT (Right Knee Meniscus Tear)
The Big Picture
After a league-leading nine days off since their preseason finale, the Clippers are finally set to take the hardwood for their season opener. Fitting for a season in which the Clippers will look to keep the ship afloat without Kawhi Leonard, LAC will start off by looking to manifest that “next man up” mentality once again with Serge Ibaka and Nicolas Batum out. Additionally, tonight will be the first opportunity for someone on this roster to step up as the No. 2 guy on offense behind Paul George. As the preseason showed, and Tyronn Lue reflected in recent interviews, the Clippers still have a lot of cleaning up to do on both ends. Ultimately, just as almost every team who’s already played so far, the Clippers will likely need to scrap it out and figure it out on the fly in order to secure a win tonight.
The Antagonist
Among the handful of teams with stars having uncharacteristically bad shooting nights to start the season, the Golden State Warriors are coming off of a loud opening night win over the Los Angeles Lakers in which Stephen Curry shot 5-for-21 from the field and 2 of 8 from deep. Given Curry’s storied success against the Clippers in the regular season — 24.4 PPG, 6 APG and 3.8 3PM on 49.6/46.1/90 shooting splits — there is reason to believe he won’t have an off night two games in a row.
Last season, the Clippers took the season series against Golden State 2-1, splitting a pair of games in the emptied-out Chase Center along the way. It’s truly been quite a while since the two Pacific Division rivals last met. The last time they faced off, which was on March 11, ReggieVision wasn’t even a thing yet. While the Warriors — outside of new assistant coach Kenny Atkinson — will have to wait and see just how much the goggles have changed this Clipper offense, LAC will also have to adjust to the new-look Golden State attack. Showcasing much better spacing and ball movement Tuesday night with the emergences of Jordan Poole and Nemanja Bjelica, as well as seasoned contributors in Andre Iguodala, Otto Porter Jr., Damion Lee and Juan Toscano-Anderson, this Warrior team appears to truly have some depth for the first time post-K.D.
Clippers vs. Warriors Game Notes
- Tightening the Rotation: With three key players out and Marcus Morris Sr. likely limited, Ty Lue will need to get creative once again in doling out the P.T. tonight. A 9-man rotation is probably the answer for opening night, but it also wouldn’t be all that surprising to see Brandon Boston Jr. make his NBA debut, especially with Lue mentioning the team will try to monitor everyone’s minutes given how long their break been since preseason action.
- Simmering Steph: The Clippers don’t exactly have that many options to throw at Curry tonight. While George, Terance Mann and Justise Winslow could potentially help out in that regard, it would be a great time for Eric Bledsoe to show some off of that two-time all-defensive team chops.
- Role Player Roulette: With PG13 and Curry being the clear alphas for their respective squads, whichever team has more of their supporting cast show up will be the deciding factor in this one. The debuts of Bledsoe and Winslow should be exciting, as well as that of Isaiah Hartenstein, who had a great preseason. Meanwhile, perhaps Mann and Luke Kennard could show off some of that breakout potential from the get-go.
Feel free to stick around and chat down below as this article’s comment section will serve as our live game thread tonight against the Golden State Warriors. Sign up for a free account and join the conversation!
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