The Clippers have had several days off to mull over their late-game losses to the Lakers and Magic, but are unfortunately still not healthy with the mercurial Timberwolves coming to town.
Game Information
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California
When: 7:00 PM PT
How to Watch: Amazon Prime Video, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Wolves: Anthony Edwards – Donte DiVincenzo – Jaden McDaniels – Julius Randle – Rudy Gobert
Clippers: Kris Dunn – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – John Collins – Brook Lopez
Injuries
Wolves: None
Clippers: Kawhi Leonard Questionable (Ankle), John Collins Questionable (Head/Neck), Darius Garland Out (Toe), Bradley Beal Out (Hip)
The Big Picture
The Clippers have had back to back tough losses, falling short at the final buzzer against both the Lakers and the Magic. They’ve played hard and mostly played pretty well, but the shooting has not been there, not has the overall offensive creation. Unfortunately, this is a team that is weakened at point guard, power forward, and center positions due to the Harden trade/Garland injury, Collins injury, and Zubac trade – they are just really short on juice right now. Fortunately, Collins should be back soon, and Garland is practicing 5 on 5, which means his Clippers debut should be coming shortly. It won’t be a minute too soon, either: while the Clippers have done yeoman’s work in staying afloat, they desperately need Garland’s shooting, scoring, ballhandling, and playmaking.
The Antagonist
The Timberwolves have kept up in the Western Conference playoff race, as they currently sit at 5th in the standings but are just a half-game back of 3rd. Despite their standing, the Wolves’ rollercoaster of a season has continued, with excellent wins followed by disappointing losses. The Clippers themselves were responsible for one of those losses a couple of weeks ago, comprehensively beating the Timberwolves despite being quite short-handed. The Wolves’ defense is not as good as it should be, though their offense has been juiced up a bit by mid-season acquisition Ayo Dosunmu. The Wolves should be heavily favored against a beat-up Clippers team, even with this game being played at Intuit. Will the Timberwolves actually show up and execute against a “lesser” opponent? Clippers fans will have to be hoping for a negative answer.
Notes
The Turnover Battle: In many ways, the NBA is a game about possessions – who gets more shots up and who controls the game. The Clippers are not great at rebounding the basketball or at taking care of the basketball, while the Wolves are a good rebounding team and exactly average in turnover rate. This would seem to give the advantage in the possession game to the Wolves. However, the Wolves can get very, very sloppy with the ball, especially when games get close, and the Clippers are decent at getting steals. If the game is close, the Clippers need to keep their defensive pressure high, and the Wolves might unravel for them. The key, of course, will not be succumbing the other way.