The Clippers broke the curse—at least for one night—in New Orleans, beating the Pelicans, 111-95.

Summary

The Clippers took a 15 point lead into halftime, an advantage that was entirely earned in the second quarter. Although they put up 30 points in the frame, it was the Clippers’ defense that shined, giving up only 15 points to the Pelicans. (To be fair, the Pelicans shot just 35% from the field, which cannot totally be credited to the Clippers.) The Clippers’ offensive attack was led by Paul George, who had 15 first half points on 6/9 shooting (3/4 from three), and James Harden, who added seven assists and eight points. Harden would finish the game with 13 assists to just one turnover—yet another example of how he can create a winning “system” even when his shot is not falling (he was 2/7 from the floor and 1/6 from three).

The game was over by the end of the third quarter, as the Clippers won the frame by 11. This time it was the offense, which put up 36 in the frame to the Pelicans’ 27. Brandon Ingram—who typically gets what he wants against the Clippers—struggled all game. He had just 12 points on 3/9 shooting. Likewise, Zion had 12 points on 3/9 and only played 19 minutes (he left the game early with a “right leg contusion”).

Notes

Load Management: The best genre of load management is when starters get to rest during garbage time. And, tonight, the Clippers got just that. Neither PG, Harden, nor Zubac played in the fourth quarter, while Kawhi played about five minutes in the period, and Mann only played one. No one played over thirty minutes.

Plumlee is Back: Mason Plumlee saw action for the first time since Nov. 6th, when he was injured against the Knicks. Tonight, he was able to get seven minutes (during garage time), scoring eight points (4/5 from the free throw line). It is unknown if or when Plumlee will reenter the core rotation but it was nonetheless nice to see him out there.

Clippers finally win in New Orleans, 111-95
Kenneth Armstrong

Since the 2019-20 season, the Clippers are 5-10 against the Pelicans, and the Clippers have not won in New Orleans since January of 2020—almost four years. Tonight, the Clippers hope to turn that trend around.

Game Information

Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

When: 5:00 PM PT

How to Watch & Listen: Bally Sports SoCal, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: James Harden – Paul George – Kawhi Leonard – Terance Mann – Ivica Zubac

Pelicans: CJ McCollum – Herb Jones – Brandon Ingram – Zion Williamson – Jonas Valančiūnas

Injuries

Clippers: None

Suns: Matt Ryan, Out (elbow); Trey Murphy III, Out (knee); Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Day-to-Day (non-COVID illness)

The Big Picture

The Clippers extended their winning streak to four in Phoenix, which started this three game road trip. Importantly, both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard scored over 30 points, Harden had over 20, and Terance Mann seems to be creeping back to form. When the Clippers get that level of production from their starting unit, they can afford to have long scoring droughts, even against teams like the Suns (although they ought not tempt fate, even though they got away with it in Arizona).

When the Pelicans beat the Clippers in late November, the Clippers had just made their starting lineup change and were still figuring out their rotation (PJ Tucker, as you might remember, played 22 minutes in that game). This Clippers team understands itself at a much higher level, which should give them a better chance.

The Antagonist

Although the Clippers may have improved, the Pelicans are still pretty good. They are 21-14 on the season and 12-7 at home (the Clippers are just 7-8 on the road). Moreover, the Pelicans just beat the Timberwolves—the best team in the Western Conference—by 11 points on the road. Zion had 27 points on 11/15 shooting, and Ingram added 19 (7/11 from the field). Both of those players have historically been tough covers for the Clippers, and the addition of Coffey into the rotation is not the answer, even though he has been pretty good since his role was elevated.

Notes

Standings Watch: The Clippers are currently 21-12 to the Pelicans’ 21-14. Therefore, the game will be important for the Clippers’ campaign to maintain the 4th seed and try to catch the 24-11 Nuggets. Moreover, the Clippers need this game to ensure that they have a chance to win the season tie-breaker over the Pelicans, which has a good chance of being important this season. Finally, the Clippers got some help from the rest of the league with the Thunder and Lakers losing, so it would be disappointing to not take advantage of it on Friday.

Zion Ideas: With PJ Tucker out of the rotation, it will be interesting to see what Ty Lue does with Zion. Will we see Plumlee for the first time in a while? Will we see Plumlee AND Theis together (perhaps when Zion and Valančiūnas play together)? Let us know in the comments what you would do.

Clippers vs. Pelicans Game Preview
Kenneth Armstrong

As we enter the last week of the NBA’s regular season, the Clippers’ fate is still up in the air–we know that they’ll at least make some kind of postseason appearance after clinching a top-10 finish in the West with Dallas’ loss Sunday. Currently, the Clippers are 3 losses behind the 4th-place Suns, 2 losses ahead of the 9th-place Minnesota Timberwolves, and 3 losses ahead of the 10th-place Oklahoma City Thunder. Technically, every spot from 4th to 10th is still in play for the Clippers, though 4, 9, and 10 are all extremely unlikely. Passing the Suns is impossible unless the Clippers win all 3 of their remaining games and the Suns lose all 4 of theirs. Similarly, the Thunder passing the Clippers would require the Clippers losing all 3 of their remaining games while the Thunder win all 3 of theirs (this would pull the teams into a tie, with OKC winning the regular season H2H series 3-1). Minnesota’s buffer is only slightly wider, as they could weather one Clipper win or Wolves loss and still pass LAC. But for now, I’m going to set them aside and revisit them later in the week if needed.

While those options aren’t mathematically eliminated, they’re obviously extremely unlikely to happen. The range of outcomes that are much more likely to be in play for the Clippers are spots 5-8 in the Western Conference, where they are currently in a dead heat with the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, and New Orleans Pelicans. All 4 teams currently have 38 losses, with the Warriors and Clippers both holding 41 wins and having 3 games remaining, while the Lakers and Pelicans each have 40 wins and 4 games remaining. The Clippers finish the season with games against the Lakers, Blazers, and Suns. The Warriors still have to play the Thunder, Kings, and Blazers. The Lakers have games left against the Jazz, Clippers, Suns, and Jazz again. And the Pelicans close out their campaign against the Kings, Grizzlies, Knicks, and Timberwolves. At this stage, any combination of these teams could end up tied–in fact, it would be surprising if there wasn’t a tie somewhere in this 5-8 range. So, let’s look at the lay of the land with the possible tie combinations involving the Clippers:

Clippers & Warriors tie

Status: Clippers lead
Win Condition: Clippers clinch with 1 of the following 3 results: Clippers beat Lakers, Kings beat Warriors, Clippers beat Suns
Loss Condition: Warriors clinch with all 3 of the following results: Lakers beat Clippers, Warriors beat Kings, Suns beat Clippers
Explantion: The Clippers and Warriors tied their regular season series 2-2. Since they’re in the same division, if they finish in a 2-team tie, the next tiebreaker is division record. The Clippers are currently 7-7 vs Pacific Division foes, while the Warriors are 6-9. If any of the above 3 games goes LAC’s way, the Clippers will win this two-team tiebreaker on division record. If all 3 games listed above go the Warriors’ way, we would move to the third tiebreaker, which is conference record. The Warriors are currently ahead in conference record and, by nature of the Warrior wins and Clipper losses required to tie the division record criteria, would win the two-team tiebreaker with the Clippers if it came to that.

Clippers and Pelicans tie

Status: Pelicans won
Explanation: The Pelicans clinched the 2-team tiebreaker vs the Clippers by winning the regular season series 3-0.

Clippers and Lakers tie

Status: Clippers won
Explanation: The Clippers clinched the 2-team tiebreaker vs the Lakers by taking a 3-0 lead in the regular season series, with 1 game remaining.

Clippers, Warriors, and Pelicans tie

Status: Pelicans 1st, Warriors 2nd, Clippers 3rd (clinched)
Explanation: In a 3-team tie, the first tiebreaker is combined head-to-head record. The Clippers and Warriors are 2-2. The Pelicans and Warriors are 2-2. The Pelicans beat the Clippers 3-0. Therefore, whether this tie was 5/6/7 or 6/7/8, the Clippers would be going to the Play-In-Tournament, likely either for a “home” game vs the Lakers (who would presumably finish 8th if this was a 5/6/7 tie) or a road game to the Warriors (who would finish 7th if this was a 6/7/8 tie).

Clippers, Warriors, and Lakers tie

Status: Clippers 1st, Lakers 2nd, Warriors 3rd (clinched)
Explanation: So, even though all of these teams are in the same division, we still start with their combined head-to-head records as the first tiebreaker. The Clippers are a combined 5-2 vs the Warriors and Lakers, while the Lakers are 3-4 and the Warriors are 3-5. If the Lakers beat the Clippers in the final game among this group, they’d have the 2nd-best combined H2H record. But even if they lose that game, they’d beat the Warriors for 2nd in this 3-team tie. Once a multi-team tie is broken by a criteria removing at least one team, the tiebreak process resets among the teams who are still tied. So, if on the first 3-team tie criteria the Clippers win and the Warriors and Laker are still tied, they don’t move to the 2nd 3-team tie criteria, they set the Clippers aside and run Warriors/Lakers as a 2-team tie. The Lakers won the regular season series 3-1 and have therefore already clinched 2nd in this hypothetical 3-way tie regardless of the outcome of Wednesday’s game vs the Clippers. If this was a 5/6/7 tie, the Clippers would go on the road against the Suns in the first round while the Warriors hosted (presumably) the Pelicans in the Play-In Tournament. If this was a 6/7/8 tie, the Clippers would secure the 6 seed and the Warriors would have a road game against the Lakers in the Play-In Tournament.

Clippers, Pelicans, and Lakers tie

Status: Pelicans 1st (clinched), Clippers 2nd (currently lead), Lakers 3rd (currently trail)
Win Condition: Clippers clinch 2nd in this 3-team tiebreaker with a win over the Lakers
Loss Condition: Clippers clinch 3rd in this 3-team tiebreaker with a loss to the Lakers
Explanation: Again, we look at combined head-to-head. The Pelicans are currently 4-3, Clippers 3-3, and Lakers 3-4, with one Clippers-Lakers game remaining. If the Clippers win that game, they’ll tie the Pelicans at 4-3 and the Lakers will be alone in last at 3-5. The Lakers would then be removed from the tie, and the Pelicans would win the 2-team tie with the Clippers based on the 3-0 season series win. In that case, a 5/6/7 tie would give the Clippers the 6-seed, while in a 6/7/8 tie their only reward would be hosting the 7-8 Play-In game vs the Lakers.

But if the Lakers win Wednesday’s head-to-head with the Clippers, the Lakers would improve to 4-4 in the combined head-to-head while the Clippers would drop to 3-4. Once again, in a 5/6/7 tie, this would be massively important as the Lakers would be protected from the Play-In Tournament while the Clippers would (most likely) have to host the Warriors in the 7-8 game. If this was a 6/7/8 tie, the 7-8 game would be Lakers-Clippers regardless, and the Lakers getting 2nd in this tiebreaker would just change the designated home team for the game.

Clippers, Warriors, Pelicans, and Lakers tie

Status: Pelicans currently lead, Lakers currently 2nd, Clippers currently 3rd, Warriors clinched last
Win Condition: The Clippers will finish 2nd in this 4-team tiebreaker if they beat the Lakers on Wednesday
Loss Condition: The Clippers will finish 3rd in this 4-team tiebreaker if they lose to the Lakers on Wednesday
Explanation: So, even in the big one, we just add up the combined head-to-head records. The Pelicans and Lakers are each 6-5, while the Clippers are 5-5 and the Warriors are 5-7. Clippers-Lakers is the only remaining head-to-head among this group.

If the Clippers win that game, they’ll join the Pelicans at 6-5 while bumping the Lakers to 6-6. Assuming this is a 5/6/7/8 tie, the Lakers would finish 7th and the Warriors would finish 8th, setting up Warriors @ Lakers in the Play-In Tournament. The Clippers and Pelicans would reset as a 2-team tie, which New Orleans would win, placing the Pelicans 5th and the Clippers 6th.

If the Lakers win that game, they’ll pass the Pelicans, finishing 7-5 to New Orleans’ 6-5, the Clippers’ 5-6, and the Warriors’ 5-7. No further tiebreakers would be needed; the Lakers would be the 5-seed, the Pelicans would be the 6-seed, and we’d have Warriors @ Clippers in the 7-8 Play-In game.

The Timberwolves

I mentioned at the beginning that I would be setting aside the Wolves for now, and I hope that this post illustrates why–adding a 5th team to the mix creates a ton of additional 2-, 3-, and 4-team tie possibilities, in addition to the massive potential 5-team tiebreaker. Since they currently sit 2 losses back of the pack, it’s very likely that a lot of those scenarios will be closed off in the coming days. But if any Clippers-Wolves scenarios are still play heading into the final weekend of the regular season, I’ll be sure to break down the possibilities either in an article here or on my Twitter, where I am doing daily live tweeting of standings watching. For now, it might just be useful to know that the Wolves are 2-2 vs the Warriors, 2-1 vs the Clippers, 2-1 vs the Lakers, and 1-1 vs the Pelicans with a potentially massive final game vs New Orleans on the last day of the regular season.

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Western Conference Playoffs: a look at the Clippers tiebreaker situation
Lucas Hann

According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, several teams have expressed interest in newly-acquired Clippers forward Robert Covington since the trade Friday night that brought Covington to Los Angeles along with Norman Powell. For those who don’t know Scotto, he is an extablished NBA reporter on these types of minor rumors and has a strong reputation of accuracy.

Scotto adds that “the Clippers are open to retaining Covington,” so it’s far from a sure thing that he will be dealt again this week. While he is in the final year of his current contract, the Clippers would have his bird rights to work on a new deal this off-season. At power forward, the Clippers currently have the established duo of Marcus Morris and Nico Batum, leaving some questions about where Covington fits into the equation. Each of these guys can play in SF/PF combinations with another, but the Clippers’ long-term outlook includes Kawhi Leonard returning to the team next season (or late this season) and occupying most of the small forward minutes, while younger incumbent wings like Terance Mann and Amir Coffey also have likely earned playing time at the position. Covington can also provide cover as a small ball option at the center position, though the Clippers are dealing with a center logjam now as well. Even though many around the team, including myself, consider Serge Ibaka likely to be moved this week, the team has significant investment in defensive anchor Ivica Zubac and needs to continue to find minutes for Isaiah Hartenstein, who has the best on/off numbers on the team this season.

So, it does feel like something’s gotta give here for the Clippers. Even if you take Ibaka away from the team and don’t add another player to the rotation, they’ve got two established centers getting regular time and three quality veteran power forwards in their prime. Then, Luke Kennard, Terance Mann, and Amir Coffey are competing for limited minutes as the backup wings behind Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, once those stars return from their injuries. New acquisition Norman Powell’s best position is also shooting guard, also he’ll likely play plenty of minutes as a shadow point guard with George handling playmaking duties. At point guard, he’ll compete for minutes with the Clippers’ current leader, Reggie Jackson.

Scotto suggests that the Clippers could hold on to Covington as defensive depth and another veteran in the locker room, and that’s definitely on the table. We know that Ty Lue loves to tinker within playoff series, with support players regularly coming in and out of the rotation as needed during last year’s Western Conference Finals run, and Covington provides the luxury to make those types of adjustments. Want to play heavy centerless minutes? Covington would be a huge asset with Hartenstein out of the rotation. Need a full deck of wing defenders with no defensive liabilities? Covington could replace Luke Kennard for a game. And if someone like Terance Mann is struggling, Covington might fill the same role with a bit more consistency and poise.

In the short term, there’s a role for Covington on the Clippers, even if it’s a small one compared to the 30 minutes per game he was playing this season for Portland, where he started 40 of 48 games. In the long term, a regular role for him would likely only come at the expense of Marcus Morris or Nico Batum. It’s a luxury for the Clippers in several senses: Covington is a great luxury depth player for the next 28 games + playoffs, or he could be turned into a positive return for the Clippers in another trade before this deadline. His presence also makes it easier to explore potential deals for Morris or Batum at this deadline, as he would fit pretty naturally into the PF role for the Clippers (he’s not nearly the shooter Morris and Batum are, but he’ll camp in the corners and do just enough, while being a much better defender than Morris), and his bird rights would likewise give the team options this summer, with Morris under contract and Batum holding a low player option. Assuming Batum opts out, Covington could be insurance if Nico gets a big offer elsewhere. The Clippers could also decide to explore trade avenues for Morris and re-sign both.

For now, let’s peek at what some offers could be from the teams calling the Clippers about Covington this week. It’s probably safe to say that the market for Covington isn’t insanely robust–Portland’s surely been taking calls on him in the lead-up to this trade with the Clippers, and if they thought they could get a first-round pick for him you’d imagine that they would have been able to still avoid the luxury tax by trading Covington separately later instead of throwing him into the Powell deal. There was some chatter that Portland’s value in this trade was getting a first round pick (Keon Johnson) for Powell and a second round pick (Detroit’s 2025) for Covington. If that’s an accurate reading of Covington’s value around the league right now, then the Clippers probably won’t look to trade him. His value as rental depth plus an off-season insurance policy is worth more than a future 2nd. But that being apparent, plus the fact that multiple teams are interested, seems to suggest you might be able to get a little bit more. Maybe 2 2nds? Maybe a useful player coming back as salary matching?

The teams with interest in Covington are obviously going to be good teams with hopes of making a playoff run who would be “buyers.” But Covington being just 31 makes his bird rights a little more attractive than your standard deadline rental–he could easily re-sign with a team and be a rotation piece for several years to come. That makes for easily over a dozen teams that would be interested in adding a player like RoCo to their playoff rotation. The limiting factor here is going to be financial. Teams will need a way to absorb his $12.9M deal, either a large enough trade exception or expendable matching salary. So, who could both use Covington and has a potential trade offer that wouldn’t cost them one of their own core players?

There are only two teams in the NBA with big enough trade exceptions to absorb Covington outright: Orlando and New Orleans. The Magic clearly have no incentive to get into the conversation here, but the Pelicans might–they’re looking like strong contenders for a Western Conference play-in spot with hopes of being playoff-competitive sooner rather than later with a healthy Zion Williamson, meaning that re-signing Covington could work out for them long-term. In addition to that large exception, the Pelicans have the $10M expiring contract of Tomas Satoransky, who Robert Flom mentioned yesterday as a potential stopgap backup point guard for the Clippers. With New Orleans in mind, here are some potential Covington offers from them and other teams:

• New Orleans Pelicans: 2 2nd Rounders, with or without Satoransky. Sato has been dreadful this year and doesn’t warrant compensation. The Pelicans will have bigger fish to fry before looking at a RoCo deal, and Satoransky’s large expiring contract could well be gone as part of a package for a more significant piece than Covington. The Pelicans also have a bucket of future firsts from Milwaukee and the Lakers from the Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis trades, so it’s possible you could get something like “the worst of NOP/MIL/LAL 2024 1sts.”
• Chicago Bulls: Derrick Jones Jr and Marko Simonovic. Simonovic is just filler here to get the math over the finish line. Frankly, I’m not sure that the Bulls would prefer Covington over Jones Jr., but Chicago is in a tight race for the 1-seed in the East and DJJ, also on an expiring deal, could miss most of the remainder of the regular season with a fractured index finger.

• Phoenix Suns: JaVale McGee, Dario Saric, and 2 2nds. McGee has become redundant with the arrival and emergence of Bismack Biyombo, and Saric is out for the season. Covington would give the Suns another switchable defensive forward to join forces with Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, and Cam Johnson–a position where contenders need a lot of interchangeable parts. But with the Clippers getting no short-term utility from McGee and Saric, who is owed $9.2M next season, the two 2nd round picks aren’t enough to sway me and I highly doubt Phoenix coughs up a first.
• Utah Jazz: Joe Ingles and 2 2nds. Ingles is out for the year after tearing his ACL, so the Clippers would simply release his $13M expiring deal to create a new roster spot. It’s just as well, since it’s safe to say the player who injured Kawhi Leonard with a dirty play last postseason wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms in LAC’s locker room. But the Jazz are desperate for defensive help and Covington would give them an interesting addition on that end of the floor, so he could be one of their targets with that expiring deal.

On the whole, if I were the Clippers, I would be holding out for a future first for Covington. Even if it’s a low-value pick (either because it belongs to a good team, or because it’s protected, or both), it gives LAC another relevant asset for a potential future trade package as they try to add high-end talent alongside Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. However, I think they are unlikely to get a first rounder for RoCo at this deadline, which I’m fine with–holding onto him is a pretty good worst-case scenario. I am hesitant to trade Marcus Morris because of his importance to this team, but he’s probably the guy at PF at this deadline who you take a long, hard look to see if you can get a really good return this week while leaving Batum and Covington as your power forwards moving forward.

NBA Trade Rumors: Robert Covington Attracting Interest
Lucas Hann

The Clippers dropped an embarrassing loss to the second worst team in the league Friday night. If you watched the game, you won’t want to re-live it, but nonetheless our recap is below.

One note before we get to the game: Nic Batum, who missed last game with achilles soreness, started tonights game.

Summary

The Clippers started with a sense of urgency, holding the Pelicans to just 16 first quarter points and put up 29 of their own (on 54.5% shooting). What’s more, the points came from eight different players. Batum’s re-entry into the lineup was immediately felt, as he was characteristically in the Pelicans’ passing lanes and making strong shot contests.

The second quarter was much more even, with the Pelicans cutting into the Clippers’ lead by one point. Paul George continued to pour it on, finishing the half with 12 points, but he did not get much support. For their part, the Pelicans were largely led by Jonas Valančiūnas, who was 3/4 from three in the first half.

After halftime, things got ugly. The Clippers’ 12 point lead was essentially erased in just ninety seconds, as the Pelicans went on a 10-0 run to start the third quarter. From this point on, the Pelicans were much more aggressive than the Clippers, while the Clippers’ shooting fell off a cliff.

In the first half, the Clippers shot 49% from the field (31% from three); in the second half, they were 25% from the field and 20% from three. Whether it was tired legs, poor shot selection, or just better defense from the Pelicans is hard to say; regardless, it was ugly and the Clippers lost their defensive aggression along with the decline in shooting as the game went on.

All told, the Clippers lost the second half by a staggering 25 points, losing the game by 13, 94-81. The Pelicans were led by Josh Hart, who was really aggressive all game, and Valančiūnas, who had 26 points (5/9 from three).

Notes

• This was really embarrassing: Farbod Esnaashari said it on Twitter, and I agree. If the Clippers are the top-6 conference team that many of us predicted, these are games that can’t be lost. Yes, they were on the road; yes, they are still “short-handed”; yes, they played last night. But these kind of losses simply can’t happen going forward.
• Too Much Jump Shooting: I personally thought PG did not get enough calls on some of his drives to the rim; nonetheless, the Clippers did not shoot a free throw after the 3 minute mark of the first quarter (H/T Justin Russo, @flybyknite on twitter). When the shots are not falling, the Clippers need to find ways to get to the free throw line and score in the paint.

That just about does it for our recap of the Clippers’ embarrassing Friday night game. Check out the site and our podcast for more news and analysis.

Clippers vs. Pelicans Recap: Embarrassing Loss in NOLA
Kenneth Armstrong

It was an absolute rout in Louisiana tonight, as the Clippers were beat down vs the Pelicans enough that I decided to combine the game recap and player grades together into one post, with hopes that this game can be forgotten sooner rather than later.

Clippers vs Pelicans Game Summary

Maybe the team missed Patrick Beverley’s defensive energy to start the game, or maybe they overlooked Sunday’s match-up against the 12th-place New Orleans Pelicans as they prepared for revenge Monday against the Dallas Mavericks, who obliderated the Clippers by 50 in December. But if the Clippers’ intent was to redeem themselves for an embarrassing loss on Monday, it’s rather ironic that their lack of focus tonight resulted in another dreadful blowout loss to an inferior opponent.

A lot of things didn’t work in the Clippers’ favor tonight. Even with some garbage-time production, they finished well below their average from beyond the arc–and, tellingly, key role players were ice cold, failing to punish the Pelicans for over-helping on Paul George and Kawhi Leonard defensively. Lou Williams, Marcus Morris, Nicolas Batum, and Serge Ibaka combined to shoot 0-8 from three tonight, which is absolutely brutal againt a Pelicans team whose greatest defensive weakness is that they consciously concede open threes, ranking near last in the league in both opponent attempts and percentage. New Orleans, for their part, was unconscious from the field, shooting 46% from beyond the arc (compared to their season average of 35%) and an unbelievable 41-57 on two-point attempts. Even with the Pelicans being a good offensive team and the Clippers playing poor defense, there was some stuff tonight that you just have to shrug at–like Josh Hart going between his legs, stepping back, and drilling a tightly contested 18-footer. Jaxson Hayes’ poster dunk on Reggie Jackson only cost the Clippers a point (Hayes picked up a technical foul and Kawhi Leonard made the ensuing free throw), but it was the perfect play to summarize how thoroughly dominant New Orleans was in the third quarter, as they shot 17-22 from the field and ran LA off the floor.

If this Pelicans team is defined by two things, it’s their offensive domination in the lane through points in the paint, led by Zion Williamson, and their poor three point defense. The Clippers were ice cold on good looks from three and lost the shooting variance battle, and were left without much size to combat the Pelicans’ inside attack as Serge Ibaka was ruled out after 8 minutes with lower back tightness and Ivica Zubac found himself in foul trouble thanks to some horrendous calls. The Pelicans have not been a good team this season, but they–and Zion in particular–are truly elite in the paint offensively, and the Clippers were forced to play long stretches tonight without a rim protector on the floor. Between that and the shooting, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that LAC dropped this game.

But it’s not all about the things that were out of the Clippers’ control–makes and misses, availability and officiating. They still lost when Ibaka or Zubac were on the floor by about a point per minute, and they weren’t sharp on either end of the floor. Far too frequently, the Clippers’ reputable perimeter defenders allowed easy dribble penetration, whether it was Kawhi Leonard on Brandon Ingram or Terance Mann on Josh Hart. Offensively, they committed lazy turnovers early in the game and got flustered as New Orleans build momentum as the game wore on. It’s fair to point out that things out of LAC’s control didn’t go their way tonight–but it’s also fair to point out that when dealing with nothing coming easily, they didn’t put in very much effort to fight and earn things the hard way. It would be inaccurate to describe this performance as a struggle, because the Clippers simply didn’t put up much of one. It was a largely non-competitive contest.

Clippers Player Grades

Reggie Jackson: B-. With everyone in the supporting cast struggling to shoot, Reggie did hit 4-6 from beyond the arc en route to an efficient 18 points. But there’s going to be some brutal honesty up and down the gradebook tonight, and hitting some bad-process threes in the second half with the game out of hand isn’t going to save anyone from their share of the blame for this defensive performance.

Paul George: D. I think the rough whistle continued tonight for Paul, both in the lane and on at least one of his missed threes where he took a hit. But 15 points on 5-14 shooting, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 turnovers without making a noticeable impact on defense just doesn’t even approach enough.

Kawhi Leonard: B-. Despite his offensive efficiency (23 points on 9-13 shooting), Kawhi simply didn’t make his presence felt in tonight’s game. This goes for PG, too, althoug Kawhi did a little bit better in his passivity: when you’re getting run out of the gym, someone has to take ownership of the collective performance. Individual numbers aren’t enough, and Kawhi wasn’t nearly enough tonight.

Nicolas Batum: C. Nic might have been the Clippers’ best defender against Zion tonight… but Zion was 13-16 from the field with 27 points and 5 assists. Nic took at least 3 bad shots tonight, which is pretty remarkable for a guy who shoots as infrequently as he does, and his drop-off from beyond the arc has continued.

Serge Ibaka: NG. Serge gets a break tonight, since he checked out early with an injury. When a guy leaves with back tightness after 8 minutes, it sort of leads me to believe he wasn’t feeling great before tip either.

Terance Mann: B. Terance had a fine performance tonight in his role. He wasn’t particularly good on either end of the floor, but he was far from the problem either–and it’s hard to ask the sophomore wing playing in a 10th man role to be the solution to problems higher up in the food chain.”

Marcus Morris: F. The Clippers got absolutely nothing from Morris tonight, who settled for poor shots en route to 0 points on 0-5 shooting, added only 2 rebounds in 20 minutes, and got burned defensively.

Patrick Patterson: D+. Similarly to Terance, Patterson wasn’t the Clippers’ problem tonight and it’s unfair to expect him to be the solution. But it’s been apparent all year–his time playing at an NBA-caliber level is over. The Clippers need a better emergency big for situations where they’re dealing with foul trouble and/or injuries.

Luke Kennard: B+. I said last game that I wasn’t going to give a guy with Luke’s contract & expectations better than a B for garbage time, but his + tonight comes from a successful first-half stint. Overall, he had 15 points and 4 assists on 6-10 shooting in 19 minutes, and the Clippers actually won his minutes by 10 points. Even in the first half, the Clippers won his 5:30 by 3 points as he added 5 points and 2 assists.

Lou Williams: D-. I appreciate Lou earning trips to the foul line in the third quarter to slow the tide of a Pelican offense that had picked up about as much momentum as you’ll see an NBA team accumulate. But 6 points, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers on 1-3 shooting isn’t just a bad game for Lou–it’s a non-impactful game, as if he thought he was going to take this one off.

Ivica Zubac: D. Zu made a few good plays in his 13 minutes of run tonight–a great block in help defense, stepping up and staying vertical to force one of Zion’s few misses around the basket after he split a double team, chasing down 3 offensive rebounds. But he also allowed offensive rebounds to both Adams and Hayes, continued to be foul-prone (even if the third one was a really bad call against him), and had a relatively poor game around the basket offensively.

Amir Coffey: A-. To whatever extent tonight’s 20-point final margin could be considered respectable when compared to the game as a whole, Coffey joins Kennard in deserving credit for the Clippers actually competing in garbage time and winning the fourth quarter. He had 13 points on 4-6 shooting and also came up with a couple of assists and a steal.

Daniel Oturu: B-. Aside from finishing a lob from Luke Kennard early in the fourth quarter, Daniel really didn’t do much in his 12 minutes of burn, but it was nice to see him back healthy and on the floor, even if he was mostly just watching Luke, Amir, and Terance take turns offensively. You would really like to see more than 2 defensive rebounds in 12 minutes from a center, though.

Onward

People always get frustrated with me when I say that every team has bad losses, and the Clippers need to just put a game like this one behind them and focus on being better tomorrow. But… it’s true. That’s not to excuse tonight’s performance, but I’m not sure what folks are really looking for as some type of major, overreactive course correction after a bad loss. If there’s a trade out there that will make the Clippers better, they should make it–but that was just as true after Thursday’s blowout win as it is after Sunday’s blowout loss, and the limitations LAC has in trade talks makes such a deal unlikely. Ty Lue dropped an F-bomb in his press conference tonight. But that sign that the team also views this outing as unacceptable doesn’t really do anything for me. Truly, the best thing the Clippers can do to appease their fans is also the best thing for them to do from an internal perspective: be frustrated, vent a little, and show up tomorrow with a bit more focus and intensity than they did tonight. The answer is in between the lines.

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Clippers vs Pelicans Recap and Grades
Lucas Hann

With the second half of the season underway, the Clippers head on the road. Check out our full Clippers vs Pelicans game preview below.

Clippers vs Pelicans Game Information

When: 6:00 PM Pacific Time
Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, LA
How To Watch: ESPN, Fox Sports Prime Ticket

Projected Starters:
LA Clippers: Reggie Jackson – Paul George – Kawhi Leonard – Nicolas Batum – Serge Ibaka
New Orleans Pelicans: Eric Bledsoe – Lonzo Ball – Brandon Ingram – Zion Williamson – Steven Adams

Injury Report:
LA Clippers: Patrick Beverley – OUT (Right Knee Soreness)
New Orleans Pelicans: J.J. Redick – OUT (Heel)

The Big Picture

It turns out that when Kawhi Leonard and Paul George both play, the Clippers are pretty good! Who knew. They have a +18.8 net rating when the two of them are on the floor, and are 19-6 in the 25 games both have suited up in. That includes an absolute beatdown of the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, as the Clippers snapped a 3-game losing streak and got off to a strong start to the second half of the season.

Now, it’s up to them to keep the ball rolling without starting point guard Patrick Beverley, who exited early Thursday with right knee soreness. The Clippers’ lackluster February left them in fourth place in the Western Conference, and they need to take advantage of a run of games with George and Leonard both in the lineup to rattle off some wins and improve their seeding outlook. They’re a loss back from third-place LAL, with a serious opportunity to gain ground as Anthony Davis remains out of the lineup. Then, they’re 3 losses behind the Phoenix Suns for second and a full six losses behidn the first-place Utah Jazz, who will be hard to pass at this point.

According to Tankathon, the Clippers have the 16th-hardest remaining strength of schedule now that the rest of the season’s games have been released. The Lakers have the 7th-hardest, the Suns have the 11th-hardest, and the Jazz have the easiest second-half schedule of any team in the NBA. The Pelicans are no pushover, but this is exactly the kind of game against sub-.500 teams where the Clippers can’t afford to have any more slip-ups.

The Antagonist

New Orleans is still trying to figure out exactly what they have with Zion Williamson, but one thing is for sure–they’ve got something special. It’s not exactly surprising that Zion is already an All-Star level talent, but 25.5 points per game on over 60% shooting at 20 years old? Sheesh. Williamson is not only a generational talent, but he has a unique game as a monstrously strong 6’7″ forward who does almost all of his damage around the rim. Zion is amazing, Brandon Ingram is also a fringe All-Star talent. But the Pelicans still have a lot of work to do as they try to figure out how to build around them.

Eric Bledsoe clearly isn’t the long-term answer at point guard. Lonzo Ball has bounced back after a bad start to the year, but is he good enough for the Pelicans to dole out a big contract in restricted free agency next summer and restrict their flexibility to build around Zion and Ingram? The team just traded for Steven Adams and gave him an extension, but it seems like a floor-spacing center would be a better fit with Zion.

Still, that starting 5 should be better than 16-22, especially since they haven’t lost very many starter games to injury. There’s really no excuse, given their personnel, for the Pelicans to be 28th in the NBA in defensive rating, and while I’ve seen a lot of New Orleans writers on twitter routinely saying that the team doesn’t play with enough effort or fight, I have to look at the coaching. From the admittedly little I’ve seen of the Pels this year, it looks like Stan Van Gundy is running an archaic pack-the-paint defense that encourages other teams to shoot threes. New Orleans allows 39.4 opponent 3PA per game, and opponents shoot 39.2% from beyond the arc–both among the worst marks in the league. You can’t encourage teams to take open threes and stop them in the NBA, and the Pelicans haven’t done much stopping anyone this season.

Clippers vs Pelicans Game Notes

• Stepping Up: Reggie Jackson deserves praise for exceeding expectations this season. He’s shooting a career high from deep and has the best assist to turnover ratio of his career, and he’s had multiple big performances in place of injured starters. On aggregate, it’s not like he’s been amazing–but he’s been better than is fair to expect from a minimum-salary player. Similarly, Terance Mann has had a really impressive sophomore campaign, and I expect we’ll see plenty of both of them over the next several games with Beverley sidelined at least until the Clippers return to LA next Saturday. The real question is if we’ll see more of Luke Kennard, who has struggled immensely this season but has had some encouraging performances lately.

• Three-Point Shooting: I already mentioned that the Pelicans are a terrible three-point defense team by design. The Clippers, on the other hand, are having a historic season shooting the ball from beyond the arc. If New Orleans doesn’t adjust, a lot of 40%+ shooters are going to be getting a lot of open looks for LAC tomorrow, which could lead to a major blowout.
• Game Thread: The comments on this post will be our live game thread for tonight’s game. Sign up for a free account and join the conversation!

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers vs Pelicans Game Preview
Lucas Hann

I normally only evaluate LAC, but should I give Nickeil Alexander-Walker an A for his 37-point night? Despite the backup guard’s heroics, LA stayed in control and held on for a 6-point victory. Let’s take a look at how each Clipper did individually by checking out player grades for Clippers vs Pelicans.

Clippers Starter Grades

Patrick Beverley: A-. I thought Pat had a really nice individual game tonight, contributing 10 points and 2 assists on 3-7 shooting from deep offensively and stuffing the box score with 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He also stayed available for a season-high 37 minutes with Lou Williams unable to go in the second half due to injury. And while Alexander-Walker torched the Clippers, Pelicans star forward Brandon Ingram did not–and LA used Beverley on Ingram quite a bit with the undersized guard doing a stellar job.

Paul George: A-. Paul George is just having a different kind of season, man. Tonight’s line is starting to look routine: 27 points on 16 shots, 6 rebounds, 6 assists. He even limited himself to 3 turnovers! I would like to see PG, at least sometimes, take more shots (especially more threes!) than he has so far this season so he can put up nights in the 40-point range. I would also like to see the team win the minutes he’s on the court against a lottery team down three starters. So we settle at A- instead of A.

Kawhi Leonard: A-. Kawhi had 28 points on 18 shots tonight, but where his efficiency came from deliberate intent to get to the free throw line (10-11 from the stripe), I think he gets a little too mid-range happy which can cause the Clippers’ offensive lulls. Tonight he was 2-3 around the rim, 2-4 from three, and 4-11 from in between. But, I have to give him credit for a 9-assist, 2-turnover night. Kawhi is distributing the basketball far and away above anything he has done in his career.

Nicolas Batum: B+. Only a B+ for Nic? Is the honeymoon phase over? Batum overall had a good night, but for a player who thrives by doing every little thing right in the margins, he made a few notable mistakes tonight. He moved his feet unnecessarily trying to take a charge on Brandon Ingram in the first quarter, a play which would have taken Ingram out of the game with his second foul. Instead, it was Batum’s first offense–and he’d give his third away for free to stop a fast break in the third quarter before picking up his fourth on the next possession, sending him to the bench early. Then, in the fourth quarter, he lost JJ Redick for an open three and recovered late with an over-aggressive closeout that sent Redick to the free throw line for a four point play. On the defensive glass, he did not to a good job coming over to box out the Pelicans’ bigs when Ibaka or Zubac stepped up to help on drives. At one point in the second quarter, he got out hustled to a rebound four times in a 30-second span! Nic doesn’t normally make mistakes like that! Overall, he had a good night–9 points on 3-7 from deep, 4 assists, 2 rebounds. But there were a couple moments where he didn’t do his job on the little things, and that’s been rare for Nic this season.

Serge Ibaka: B. I thought Ibaka had a better night offensively tonight than he has in most recent games, but it wasn’t anything special–12 points on 5-8 shooting, though his 2 assists perhaps underrate how good he was passing out of the short roll tonight. He made a number of good reads to find open shooters in the corner when the ball came to him in the middle of the floor and the help defense stepped up. Defensively, he improved as the game went on but only had 3 defensive rebounds and (I believe) was responsible for Steven Adams having an easy 8 points on 4-4 shooting around the rim in the first quarter.

Clippers Bench Player Grades

Ivica Zubac: B+. Oh, glorious relief, an actual legitimately good game from Ivica Zubac. Not special, not great, not game-ball worthy… but the Clippers haven’t been getting adequate second unit minutes from him in recent weeks and they certainly got them tonight. Zu had 9 points and 7 rebounds, finishing around the rim and getting to the free throw line, and even had one brilliant assist in the short roll to find Paul George for an open three on the weak side of the floor. Jaxson Hayes, New Orleans’ backup center, did have 5 offensive boards–but that wasn’t all on Zu. Two of them came against Ibaka with Zu sitting, and even when Zu was on the floor it was often his forwards missing rotations to box out when Zu had to step up to defend drivers. No, he wasn’t perfect defensively, or offensively, or on the glass. After all, this is a B+, not an A. But he was legitimately helpful in all 3 categories, which is really good to see.

Marcus Morris: B-. Marcus gets bailed out a little bit by the Pelicans defense deciding to leave shooters wide open–he hit 2-4 from three to create 6 of his 8 points and finish with an alright offensive night despite going 1-4 inside the arc with some questionable looks. In one stretch, he clearly wanted to exploit a perceived mismatch against New Orleans forward Nicolo Melli, and ended up with three straight possessions where he missed a shot or turned the ball over. Defensively, he was a culprit on several of the blown rotations for box outs in the first half that led to offensive rebounds for the Pelicans. But overall, he was fine, and the Clippers won his minutes.

Luke Kennard: C+. I’m at the point where I’m ready to start holding Luke’s lack of aggressiveness against him. After taking 6.7 and 7.1 threes per 36 minutes the last two seasons, he’s taking just 5.0 so far this year. He’s a 40%+ three-point shooter. He’s gotta let it fly. Tonight he was 2-3 from deep in 21 minutes, but on multiple occasions passed up a good look for himself that messed with the flow of the offense. Normally that’s an issue with bad offensive players–like how LAC’s offense would collapse when Luc Mbah a Moute didn’t take open corner threes to keep the defense honest. I have no clue why it’s a problem with a guy who is known for being a versatile and efficient scorer. He gets a C+ because he still made 2 of his 3 threes, the Clippers won his minutes, and he wasn’t noticeably bad on defense. But he’s gotta start putting up more shots when he gets good looks at the rim or else the offense will stick when he’s on the floor.

Not Graded

Lou Williams played 9 minutes tonight, but I’m not going to give him a grade. I’ve assigned grades for smaller samples than this, but my reasoning is understandable: Lou was a late addition to the injury report with hip soreness, played his normal second quarter stint without making any visible impact, and then didn’t feel good enough to go in the second half. So, this was basically just a night where he was out.

Reggie Jackson, Terance Mann, Patrick Patterson, Mfiondu Kabengele, and Daniel Oturu were all unused substitutes tonight. It would have been nice to get some extended garbage time with the Pelicans missing 3 starters, but it is what it is. Jackson could see minutes this weekend if Williams’ hip problems persist. Amir Coffey was moved to the inactive list, presumably to try and help preserve the days on his two-way contract. He’s allowed to be on the active list for a maximum of 50 of the Clippers’ games this season (unless they give him an NBA contract and add him to the 15-man roster at some point), and I believe he’s been on it for all 11 games before tonight. Jay Scrubb remains out.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers vs Pelicans Player Grades
Lucas Hann

A pedestrian basketball game ended with a whimper, as the Clippers did just enough to fend off an extremely shorthanded Pelicans squad. New Orleans came into the night missing three starters: guards Eric Bledsoe and Lonzo Ball, as well as forward Zion Williamson. Reserve guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the 17th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, gladly stepped into the limelight, putting up a career-high 37 points on 15-32 shooting. Honestly I don’t fault the Clippers too much for NAW’s night–sometimes you just have to tip your cap to a young guy coming in as an injury replacement and showing why he deserves a bigger, more consistent role.

The Clippers did enough, considering Alexander-Walker’s outburst, to fend off the Pelicans and win the game. They built and defended leads, even as the Pelicans strung together some second-half runs consisting of fairly unlikely shots, and never really put the game in doubt, even when the margins shrunk.

In the first half, the Pelicans hung with the Clippers mostly with a huge offensive rebounding advantage. They had 10 to the Clippers’ 0 through the first 20 minutes of the game. While the Clippers out-executed New Orleans early on and defended the Pelicans well, holding them to 37.2% shooting from the field in that 20-minute start, NOP had 43 shot attempts to LAC’s 30. That type of volume advantage gave the Pelicans a massive margin for error in efficiency, keeping the game close.

But the Clippers went on a tear to close the half, actually collecting defensive boards and closing the period on a 21-4 run in the final 4:01 of the second quarter. It was their three-point shooting that led the charge, as they were 11-20 from deep. And no, they weren’t “bailed out by a hot shooting night,” nor did they “settle for jumpers instead of getting to the rim.” The Clippers created a bunch of great, wide-open looks for quality three-point shooters by getting into the lane, forcing the Pelicans defense to collapse, and kicking the ball back out to open shooters. As Paul George said after the game, the team’s top priority is attacking the paint, and then finding shooters for threes is just based on making proper reads based on the defense. New Orleans doesn’t allow a league-high 43.9 three-point attempts per game to their opponents by accident; they force teams to kick the ball out and the Clippers, with a rotation full of 40%+ three-point shooters, were right to comply.

When the Clippers struggled offensively in the third quarter and New Orleans cut into the lead, it wasn’t because they went cold from deep but rather because they stopped executing their offense to create those good three-point looks. They take more of their shots from 10-16 feet than any team in the league (13.8% of their attempts were coming from that range entering tonight) despite making just 38.8% of those jumpers, and that trend emerged again in the third quarter. Take a look at their third-quarter shot breakdown:

Obviously, you want to get to the rim whenever you can. And obviously, you can’t over-rely on long jumpers without suffering when you hit a cold spell. But the Clippers don’t over-rely on those shots–their shot distribution has them dead average in terms of the percentage of their attempts that come from beyond the arc, at 15th in the league. Where the Clippers fall into ruts is taking too few threes, settling for mid-range jumpers instead of moving the ball. In the fourth quarter, the Clippers converted more but maintained a similarly mid-range-heavy shot distribution. Their offensive success has been far more sustainable when they work possessions and make extra passes than when their stars take the types of contested pull-ups that they’re perfectly capable of making, but also perfectly capable of getting whenever they want. The old saying about “passing up a good shot for a great shot,” as ESPN’s Mark Jackson said on the broadcast tonight, certainly rings true for these Clippers.

While the Clippers’ execution lagged, the Pelicans pulled close by making some tough shots of their own. They were 9-15 on looks outside the restricted area but inside the three-point line tonight, despite most of those attempts being well-guarded by the Clippers. That was largely the work of Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who got 10 of his 15 buckets in the second half and was absolutely cooking offensively. Not to dismiss NAW’s obvious talent, but he’s a 37% career field goal shooter on over 300 attempts–sometimes random guys have big nights, especially when multiple starters are out and reserves are thrust into bigger-than-normal roles. I know it feels like this is a constant with the Clippers lately, from Patty Mills to Steph Curry to Zach LaVine (obviously Steph and Zach aren’t random but they both had extreme stretches bombing the Clippers from deep), but part of a marathon NBA season is rolling with the punches, sticking to your stuff, and not overreacting.

You would have certainly liked the Clippers to win this game going away, especially considering New Orleans’ long injury report, but sometimes you just play the game in front of you and hope to put a tally in the W column. The Clippers did just enough to fend off the Pelicans, and are now in sole possession of second place in the West heading into Friday’s game against the Sacramento Kings.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers Fend Off Pelicans, 111-106
Lucas Hann

After the Clippers’ first two-day rest of 2021, they’re back in action against a talented but underperforming New Orleans squad. Read on for a full Clippers vs Pelicans game preview.

Clippers vs Pelicans Game Information

Where: STAPLES Center, Los Angeles, California

When: 7:00 PM Pacific Time, Wednesday, January 13th, 2021

How To Watch: ESPN, Fox Sports Prime Ticket

Projected Starting Lineups

LA Clippers: Patrick Beverley – Paul George – Kawhi Leonard – Nicolas Batum – Serge Ibaka

New Orleans Pelicans: Eric Bledsoe – Josh Hart – Brandon Ingram – Zion Williamson – Steven Adams

UPDATE: With Eric Bledsoe and Zion Williamson both ruled out for the Pelicans, their starting lineup is a bit of a mystery. Rookie Kira Lewis Jr is the only point guard remaining available, but he has played sparingly to start the year. J.J. Redick and Nicolo Melli could slide in at guard and forward, with Ingram doing more ball handling.

Injury Report

LA Clippers: Ivica Zubac – Questionable (abdominal soreness), Jay Scrubb – Out (foot surgery)

New Orleans Pelicans: Lonzo Ball – Out (bilateral knee tendinopathy), Eric Bledsoe – Out (right eye irritation), J.J. Redick – Probable (right hamstring tightness), Zion Williamson – Out (health and safety protocol)

UPDATE: Without Ball, Bledsoe, and Williamson, the Pelicans will have to reach deep into their bench tonight. Look for former Clipper Sindarius Thornwell to get minutes, along with depth guards Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Kira Lewis Jr. Former Trail Blazers forward Wenyen Gabriel could make his season debut.

The Big Picture

After disappointing losses last week to the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors (and close calls in their wins vs the Warriors and Chicago Bulls), the Clippers aren’t quite firing on all cylinders. Still, their 7-4 record sees them tied for second place in the NBA’s Western Conference, and things feel like they’re going in the right direction–the starting lineup, featuring breakout stud Nicolas Batum, is still putting up powerhouse numbers and Ty Lue’s new bench rotation, which goes away from Reggie Jackson altogether while staggering Lou Williams and Luke Kennard, should provide the Clippers with a lot more consistency and stability on both ends.

You can perhaps forgive the team for their losses last week, as the game against the Spurs came without Paul George and the loss to the Warriors had a lot more to do with Steph Curry finding supernova mode than anything else. But nonetheless, this is supposed to be the easy part of the team’s schedule, and they’ll need to start capitalizing in the next couple of weeks. After this game against the Pelicans, the Clippers’ next five games include two each against the Sacramento Kings and Oklahoma City Thunder, plus a home contest against the road-weary Indiana Pacers who will be playing their fifth game in seven nights. All of these teams are within a game or two of .500, so these games won’t be pushovers, but it’s a string of games that LAC should hopefully win to get a little streak going before they head out on a big road trip.

The primary thing to watch for from the Clippers in this game is that new second unit rotation that Ty Lue is using–not just how the bench unit performs (hopefully changing course from routinely allowing runs in the first 10 games of the season) but how individual substitutes who are crucial to LAC’s long-term success perform. We’ve only seen this new rotation once, but it was encouraging. Lou Williams had a stellar game against Chicago after a slot start to the year. Ivica Zubac has had an abysmal opening stretch but showed signs of life against the Bulls. Luke Kennard will hopefully find more comfort as a shooter and passive playmaker in units full of starters who can cover for him defensively, and Marcus Morris should continue to shake rust off after returning from injury.

The Antagonist

Along with those other teams I discussed above, the New Orleans Pelicans certainly aren’t bad. The forward duo of Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson is a spectacular pair of 23-and-under stars, and the team around them has a number of veteran guys who have proven they can make good contributions to an NBA team: Eric Bledsoe, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, J.J. Redick, Steven Adams.

The Pelicans are one of a number of teams in the NBA this season who you wouldn’t be shocked to take down a contender on any given night or win multiple big games over the course of the season. But when all is said and done, I also wouldn’t be surprised if they not only miss the playoffs but find themselves in 11th or 12th place and missing out on the play-in tournament (I think in my pre-season predictions I ranked them 10th in the West).

The main reason the Pelicans have struggled to start the year is their offense, which is simply stuck in the mud. They have the league’s 22nd-rated offense and shoot 32.2% from deep–dead last in the NBA. That number will improve over the course of a 72-game campaign, as good shooters like Lonzo Ball and J.J. Redick who feature prominently in their rotation will find their stroke after a cold start. But spacing will continue to be an issue for a team that plays Zion Williamson and Steven Adams, both of whom don’t even look at the rim from deep, together for long stretches. Eric Bledsoe, a decidedly mediocre shooter, has been their most efficient marksman so far this season.

Long story short, the Pelicans are going to be scary on a night-to-night basis for a long time because they are young, and they have talent. But in order to really threaten the NBA’s hierarchy on a season-long scale, they’re gonna have to figure some things out: spacing the floor better, a more organized offensive scheme, and upping the tempo (they’re 24th in the league in pace) to match the skillset of their players, who are at their best going to the rim.

Clippers vs Pelicans Game Notes

• Hot Shooting: The Clippers have faced some serious downpours in the last week, as the Spurs, Warriors, and Bulls have all had extreme outlier team and individual shooting performances (San Antonio 20-40, Patty Mills 8-12; Golden State 20-41, Steph Curry 9-14; Chicago Bulls 18-33, Zach LaVine 10-16). But even after taking those punches, the Clippers are still on the good side of the variance gods: they’re first in the league at an unsustainable 42.4% from deep and still only slightly below average on defense, allowing 37.4% (20th).
  
  The Pelicans, even for a team without many shooters and with poor spacing, are going to shoot better than 32.2% from deep for the year. Surely, the Clippers have earned a break after the week they’ve endured… but surely, the Pelicans are overdue. Don’t forget that the Clippers blew out New Orleans in a bubble seeding game behind a franchise record 25 made three pointers.

• No Guards? Pending a handful of game-time decisions, the Pelicans could find themselves quite shorthanded at guard tonight. Starter Lonzo Ball has already been ruled out due to a knee issue, and fellow starter Eric Bledsoe and key reserve J.J. Redick are both dinged up. I expect Eric and JJ to both play, but you never know. Josh Hart is available for quality minutes at shooting guard, but if the Pels go deeper into their bench the Clippers should look to exploit matchups against Nickiel Alexander-Walker and former fan favorite Sindarius Thornwell.

• Center Depth: With Ivica Zubac questionable due to abdominal soreness, we might get a chance to see how much utility Ty Lue can squeeze out of the four roster spots that the Clippers burned on Mfiondu Kabengele, Daniel Oturu, and Patrick Patterson (signed to above the minimum, blocking off two roster spots). One of those guys is going to have to be the emergency center tonight if Zu can’t go, unless Lue fully unleashes small ball and puts one of Batum, Leonard, or Morris at center and includes Reggie Jackson and/or Terance Mann in his rotation.

• The Foul Line: The main way that the Pelicans make up for their poor three-point shooting is by having downhill drivers who excel at getting to the foul line. They’re third in the league in free throw attempts per game despite their slow pace, though they aren’t great at converting them. They also are the best team in the NBA at keeping their opponents off the free throw line. With the Clippers below average in both categories (not getting to the line enough and putting their opponents on the line too much), the Pelicans will be an interesting test of that weakness. Additionally, any foul trouble the Clippers wind up with could be a further test of their precarious depth. Imagine if Zu can’t go and Ibaka ends up in foul trouble?

• Game Thread: The comments for this post will be our live thread for tonight’s game. Sign up for a free account and join the conversation!

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers vs Pelicans Game Preview
Lucas Hann