The Clippers will try to move on from a disappointing loss to the Warriors against the struggling Pelicans.

Game Information

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, CA

When: 7:30 PM PT

How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, KEIB 1150

Projected Starting Lineups

Pelicans: Jeremiah Fears – Trey Murphy III – Herb Jones – Zion Williamson – DeAndre Jordan

Clippers: James Harden – Bradley Beal – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – Ivica Zubac

Injuries

Pelicans: Zion Williamson Questionable (Foot), Dejounte Murray Out (Achilles), Kevon Looney Out (Knee)

Clippers: Bradley Beal Questionable (Back), Jordan Miller Out (Hamstring), Kobe Sanders Out (Knee)

The Big Picture

The Clippers are 2-2, which isn’t too bad, but the fanbase is pretty unhappy with the team’s play through four games. Honestly, fans have a point. The Clippers completely laid an egg in their first game against the Jazz, beat up on a terrible Suns team in game two, scrapped out a win against a decent Blazers team, and then completely fell apart against the Warriors. It has not been an inspiring stretch to start the year to say the least. The good news is that so many different players have been disappointing that the Clippers have to improve at some point.

The Antagonist

The Pelicans have been really bad to start the year, going 0-4 and losing a couple of their recent games by significant margin. That they’ve been so bad even with a healthy-ish (for the Pelicans) roster including an in-shape Zion Williamson is a bad sign for the Pels’ season. They are a team that has a lot of real talent, and is young and athletic, but just does not fit together very well. Because their front office traded their first round pick this year for Derik Queen, the Pelicans have no reason to tank – they are going to string together some wins at some point. But right now, they are a miserable watch.

Notes

The Starting SG Spot: A lot of discussion on Clippers’ social media channels in the past week has centered on who the Clippers should start at guard next to James Harden. Bradley Beal was given the spot before training camp, and Bogdan Bogdanovic has stepped into replace him in the two games Beal has missed. Neither Beal nor Bogi has been effective, with little impact on offense and negative impact on the other end. In each game, the Clippers have noticeably improved when Kris Dunn has come in for either of the more offensively-tilted players. I do think Beal has a longer least on the starting role, but if the Clippers continue to struggle and Dunn remains more impactful, it’s possible he could regain his starting role that he held last year. I think we are a ways away from that, however.

CP3 and Brook Slow Starts: The Clippers have higher profile players who have struggled, but their bench additions of Chris Paul and Brook Lopez have both been ineffective in the regular season after very strong preseason performances. They are old and slow, but their combined shooting and IQ should make them impactful to some extent in a way they have not been so far. The CP3-Brook pick and pops and defensive smarts being effective would go a long way towards the Clippers looking better than they have so far this season.

Clippers vs Pelicans Preview: Spooky Season
Robert Flom

The Clippers begin their last home stand of the 2025 regular season against their eternal bugaboo, the New Orleans Pelicans.

Game Information

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California

When: 7:30 PM PT

How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 1150

Projected Starting Lineups

Pelicans: Jose Alvarado – Jordan Hawkins – Keion Brooks Jr. – Kelly Olynyk – Yves Missi

Clippers: James Harden – Norm Powell – Kris Dunn – Kawhi Leonard – Ivica Zubac

Injuries

Pelicans: Zion Williamson Questionable (Back), CJ McCollum Questionable (Foot), Brandon Boston Jr. Questionable (Ankle), Dejounte Murray Out (Achilles), Herb Jones Out (Shoulder), Trey Murphy Out (Shoulder)

Clippers: Jordan Miller Out (Hamstring), Cam Christie Out (G-League), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League), Seth Lundy Out (G-League), Patrick Baldwin Out (G-League)

This is another game thread while I’m on vacation. Enjoy!

Clippers vs Pelicans Game Thread: Final Home Stretch
Robert Flom

The Clippers won three games in a row at home, but now have to go back on the road, which has been much less friendly to them then the friendly confines of Intuit Dome.

Game Information

Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

When: 5:00 PM PT

How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: James Harden – Kris Dunn – Kawhi Leonard – Nic Batum – Ivica Zubac

Pelicans: CJ McCollum – Jordan Hawkins – Trey Murphy III – Zion Williamson – Yves Missi

Injuries

Clippers: Norm Powell Out (Hamstring), Ben Simmons Out (Knee), Cam Christie Out (G-League), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League), Seth Lundy Out (G-League), Patrick Baldwin Out (G-League)

Pelicans: Dejounte Murray Out (Achilles), Herb Jones Out (Shoulder), Brandon Boston Jr. Out (Ankle), Kelly Olynyk Out (Rest), Jose Alvarado Questionable (Hip)

The Big Picture

The Clippers have righted a ship that looked like it might be sinking just a week ago, winning three games in a row against quality opponents at home to put them right back into a somewhat secure spot in the 8^th seed. While it’s unfortunate that Norm Powell (and Ben Simmons to a much lesser extent) are out, their extended absences and players not coming in or out of the lineup has also allowed the Clippers a few games with the same group of players available, allowing rotations to get some consistent run. The Clippers have put Nic Batum back in the starting lineup, and that change has expectedly worked. The Clips don’t want to play Nico too much, but its critical for the Clippers to get all of their winnable games at this point, and they need Nico to do so – he’s vital on both ends of the court. Combine Nico’s increased role with incredible stretches from James Harden and Ivica Zubac and you have a Clippers team that looks competent once more. Hopefully they can continue building on this.

The Antagonist

To get a sense of how the Pelicans’ season has gone, you just have to look at their games played numbers on basketball reference. The Pelicans have played 65 games this year but have just one player (rookie Yves Missi) who has played more than 50 games (62). Next up at 50 exactly are Javonte Green (waived and now on the Cavs) and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, a middling backup big man. Trey Murphy and CJ McCollum are at 49, Dejounte Murray (out for the year) is at 31, Herb Jones (out for the year as well) is at 20, and former star Brandon Ingram logged just 18. Thus, the Pelicans, who were widely anticipated to be a playoff team, are instead 17-48 and will be a bottom five team in the lottery. It’s not all bad, however. Murphy is having a monster breakout season in his fourth year in the league. Missi will make an All-Rookie Team and looks like a future starter. Former Clipper Brandon Boston has had a nice season, earning a full NBA deal and appearing to be a potential rotation guy going forward. And, perhaps most importantly, Zion Williamson has been playing the best basketball of his NBA career, with high marks in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks at per-36 rates. If he can just stay healthy…. well, that’s the thing.

Notes

Defending Zion: The Clippers, like many other teams, have long struggled to defend Zion. He was such an insane prospect and has been so talented as a scorer in the NBA because of his unique blend of strength speed, and handle, which enables him to bully smaller players relentlessly and effortlessly blow by larger defenders. The best guy on the Clippers to cover him is probably Ivica Zubac, as their best perimeter defenders are just too small for Zion. Missi can punish teams on the offensive glass, but Kawhi is a solid choice to cover Missi, allowing Kris Dunn to handle McCollum and Nic Batum to take Trey Murphy. At least that’s how I’d line up the Clippers on defense if I was the coaching staff.

Pick on CJ: I don’t always love (or even like) when the Clippers focus on matchup hunting instead of just running their offense, but CJ McCollum is the perfect combination of player for the Clippers to ruthlessly hunt: he’s too small for either Kawhi or Harden, and is too important on offense for the Pelicans to bench. If the Clippers are ever in a dry spell on offense in this one, I’d expect them to go right into attacking CJ with their best players after drawing switches.

Clippers vs Pelicans Preview: On the Road Again
Robert Flom

The Clippers will start a three-game road trip against the team with the current worst record in the Western Conference, the New Orleans Pelicans.

Game Information

Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

When: 5:00 PM PT

How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: James Harden – Norman Powell – Kris Dunn – Derrick Jones Jr. – Ivica Zubac

Pelicans: Dejounte Murray – CJ McCollum – Herb Jones – Trey Murphy – Yves Missi

Injuries

Clippers: Kawhi Leonard Out (Knee), Terance Mann Out (Finger), Kobe Brown Out (Back), PJ Tucker Out (Away from team), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League)

Pelicans: Brandon Ingram Out (Ankle), Karlo Matkovic Out (Back), Zion Williamson Doubtful (Hamstring), Jose Alvarado Questionable (Hamstring), Yves Missi Questionable (Back)

The Big Picture

The Clippers are coming off one of their “worst” wins of the season, a nightmarish victory over a short-handed Warriors team with a close avoidance of a complete meltdown in the 4^th quarter. The Clippers’ halfcourt defense was excellent, but their offense fell apart against the Warriors’ full-court press and their defense in transition was not up to par. Still, the Clippers held on, and now rank as the 4^th best defense in the NBA. Kawhi Leonard will be out at least three more games (including this one), but the Clippers’ rotations have stabilized otherwise, and Ty Lue has mostly found lineups that work. It’s not pretty, but this Clippers’ group has proven effective, even without Leonard, Terance Mann, and second year forward Kobe Brown and a thus depleted forward group.

The Antagonist

The Pelicans have had a season from hell. None of their top six players – Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, Dejounte Murray, and CJ McCollum – have played more than 19 games, and players further down the depth chart like Jose Alvarado and Jordan Hawkins have missed significant time as well. The result is that the Pelicans’ leaders in games played this season are rookie Yves Missi, journeyman Javonte Green, old friend Brandon Boston Jr., and Thunder cast-off Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, with Daniel Theis as fifth-most. Unsurprisingly, the Pels are last in the West with a 5-27 record and are 29^th in Offensive, Defensive, and Net Rating. However, both Williamson and Alvarado are coming back soon, and most of the other key Pelicans players are active. The Pels are therefore more dangerous than their record and stats would say, though with Williamson and Alvarado likely still out they remain undermanned. It’s too late for the Pels in this West, but their record will probably look more respectable by the end of the year if they get better health luck the last 50 games of the season.

Notes

Boston Breakout: Long-time residents on Brandon Boston island will be happy to note that the situation is looking much improved. Boston has had by far his best season as a pro, averaging 11.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.8 assists on reasonable scoring efficiency (54.1% True Shooting) in 25.8 minutes per game. He’s been one of the Pelicans’ more reliable players in terms of availability and has made the most of his opportunity, seizing a real role as the Pels’ backup shooting guard. His minutes have gone way down as the Pelicans have gotten healthier in recent weeks, but he’s getting consistent minutes and is still playing at a rotation-caliber level. The playmaking (2:1 assist to turnover ratio) is particularly shocking considering how much of a gunner Boston was as a Clipper. Boston, who is one a two-way deal, just turned 23 years old, and it seems very likely he will get a full-time contract after this season, whether from the Pelicans or another franchise. It’s good to see Boston thrive – he always seemed like a great teammate and hard worker.

Clamping Trey: The Pelicans’ best player this season – of anyone who has played actual minutes – has probably been Trey Murphy III. The forward is scoring just over 20 points per game, by far a career high, and is doing so on strong efficiency. The basis for his game is his three-point shooting; Murphy launches 8.3 attempts per game from deep and hits them at a 36.3% clip. He does plenty of scoring inside the arc too, but he’s at his most dangerous when he gets hot from three. If the Clippers can run him off the line and keep his three-point attempts down, they’ll be in a solid place for countering the rest of the Pelicans’ offense.

Clippers vs Pelicans Preview: Facing off Against the Worst in the West
Robert Flom

The Clippers did their best, but were overwhelmed by Zion Williamson and the Pelicans in a road game in New Orleans, losing 112-104.

Game Summary

After last night’s offensive brilliance, it was fitting that both teams started this one very slowly on offense. There were bad turnovers and lots of missed (open) shots early, with the score sitting at 9-7 at the 5:34 mark. Subs started coming in, and the offense picked up slightly over the second half of the period, but not much. PJ Tucker checked in, as expected, and did a good job on Zion, while Kawhi’s 9 points helped the Clippers keep a 22-20 edge after one.

With PG in for Kawhi, the Clippers offense really struggled, and the Pelicans took a small lead within the first few minutes. Bones and Zu returned, but the Pelicans swarmed Bones and forced him into mistakes. The rest of the starters came back, and the defensive grind continued. The entire quarter slogged along with neither team able to get much headway until the end, when the Pelicans were able to grow their lead to six points on the back of paint scoring and free throws. At halftime, the Pelicans led 50-44.

The Clippers started the 3^rd quarter with PJ over Mann. While PJ battled, it didn’t matter much, as he went to the rim over and over again and the Clippers could not stop him. The Pelicans went up by double figures, and the game seemed to be slipping. Ty then went with Terance Mann and Mason Plumlee, an interesting choice that somehow worked, with the Clippers crawling back to 65-63 at the 5:11 mark. The rest of the bench started trickling in, and the Kawhi + bench unit did work on offense, consistently scoring. Unfortunately, the Pelicans matched them, and a buzzer-beating lay-in by Zion gave the Pels an 82-80 lead going into the final frame.

The Clippers unit of Norm-PG-Amir-Mann-Zu gave up a quick 5-0 run, with things again slipping into dangerous territory. Norm answered with an and-one, but a Naji three and Murphy lob dunk put the Pels up 92-83 with 10:24 to go. And, honestly, that stretch decided the game. The Clippers battled hard, and cut the lead to as close as four at 100-96 at the 6:17 mark, but got no closer. Their defense finally tightened up on Zion (though he still continued to score semi-regularly), but their offense could not reach its 3^rd quarter level. The Clippers fought until the bitter end, but just did not have enough, and the Pels won 112-104.

Notes

Fight is There: The Clippers have had some games lately where they rolled over and died when good teams punched them. While they lost, that was absolutely not the case tonight. The Pelicans looked like they were pulling away multiple times, and each time the Clippers fought back in it. On the second night of a back-to-back on the road (and 5^th game in seven days), missing their 2^nd best player, against a good team that was up for the fight, this was a totally justifiable – if disappointing – outcome.

Norm Injury: There was a scary moment late in the 4^th quarter when Norm Powell dove for a loose ball in a scrum and twisted his ankle badly. He limped off the court, but came back into the game after the timeout and closed it. Going on adrenaline Norm might not have felt the pain much, so let’s hope that the injury really isn’t anything and that he doesn’t miss any time for it.

Plumlee in Rotation: After not being in the rotation for a few games, Mason Plumlee played in the 3^rd quarter in place of Theis. It’s unclear if this was just a single game decision due to the Pelicans’ size and proclivity for attacking the paint, or whether the cycle on the backup center spot is now on the Plumlee rotation. I’ve been on the “Theis has outplayed Plumlee” bandwagon, but just for this game I think it was a fine choice to make.

The Big Picture: The Clippers are now just two losses ahead of the Pelicans and have lost the tiebreaker with them. They are extremely likely to face the Pelicans in the first round, which is bad. They are 1-3 against the Pelicans this year, and have struggled against them for years. Zion is a tough matchup. Still, the Pelicans are only a good, not great team – and if the Clippers can’t beat them in a 7-game series, they were never making a deep run anyway. Hopefully the next time these two teams play, the Clippers have a better gameplan for slowing Zion.

Clippers Swamped by Pels, Zion in Tough 112-104 Loss
Robert Flom

Can the Clippers build off their strong win yesterday going into the second night of a back to back, or will they suffer another ignominious defeat to the Pelicans?

Game Information

Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

When: 5:00 PM PT

How to Watch: Bally Sports SoCal, AM 570

Tickets: For great deals on Clippers tickets, check out Barry’s Tickets!

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: Bones Hyland – Terance Mann – Paul George – Kawhi Leonard – Ivica Zubac

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

Injuries

Clippers: Russell Westbrook Out (Hand), James Harden Questionable (Shoulder)

Pelicans: Dyson Daniels Out (Knee)

The Big Picture

The Clippers’ roller coaster second half of the season continues, as they followed up a disastrous loss to Minnesota at home with an excellent road win over the Bulls. The Clippers are on a second night of a back to back on the road and key players logged a lot of minutes against the Bulls, so this is a tough schedule game. As long as they play with the pace and execution on offense that they did against Chicago, and have that kind of effort on defense, they should at least be able to make the Pelicans work hard for the win.

The Antagonist

The Pelicans have solidified their hold on a playoff spot the last couple months, and are well within striking distance of the Clippers in 4^th. The Pelicans are succeeding not through the brilliance of any one player – they had no All Stars and probably won’t have any All-NBA players – but through depth and a bunch of very effective lineups. Their starting unit, in fact, is not one of their better groups, as the Pels tend to fare better when the CJ-Ingram-Zion trio is split up to be paired with more off-ball, defense-first players. Still, the Pelicans are very deep in solid NBA players, and have one of the absolute best perimeter defenders in the NBA in Herb Jones along with a big wing sharpshooter in Trey Murphy to complement their best players. The Pels are a dangerous team, even if Zion and Ingram aren’t having the breakout seasons that might have pushed them to true contender level.

Notes

Guarding Zion: The Pelicans’ biggest mismatch over the Clippers (and most teams) is Zion Williamson, who is too fast for most big men and too strong for most wings. Kawhi is the Clippers’ best bet on Zion, but that’s asking a lot of him for a full game, especially if he has to up his offense with Harden out. If Harden is still out, I also wonder if we see PJ Tucker in the second unit instead of Brandon Boston, who played yesterday, as PJ is an acceptable matchup on Zion. Keep an eye out for that, and for any other defensive strategies the Clippers implement to slow down Zion.

Standings Watch: Yesterday went quite well for the Clippers, as not only did they win, but the Mavs and Suns both lost, further insulating the Clippers from a fall down the standings. A win over the Pelicans tonight would not fully inoculate the Clippers from a slip out of the 4 seed, but it would make such a collapse a lot more unlikely. If the Clippers can win this one and just hold their head above water the last 15 games, the 4 seed should be theirs. At this point, I’m more or less ruling out the 1 or 2 seed and probably the 3 seed, so keeping homecourt at least in the first round is top priority.

Disclaimer: 213Hoops may receive compensation for some links to products and services in this post.

Clippers vs Pelicans Preview: Big One in the Bayou
Robert Flom

The tired Clippers were sloppy, mistake-prone, and lethargic in a 117-106 loss to the Pelicans that was not nearly as close as the score indicates.

Summary

The Clippers got off to an abysmal start, turning the ball over multiple times and launching bd shots while the Pelicans got easy ones, and quickly trailed 11-2. After Ty’s timeout, the offense remained fairly sloppy, but the defense picked up, and by the mid point of the quarter the game was tied 13-13. The bench came in, and things fell apart once more, with turnovers and bad decisions dominating on offense and lackadaisical defense allowing a series of blow-bys to the Pels. By the end of the quarter, the Clippers trailed 36-19, and had an incredible eight turnovers to their scoresheet.

The Clippers ran out their usual bench lineup, and while this unit was by no means great, at least they were finally able to get some consecutive buckets. The Clippers tried to chip away at the Pelicans’ lead, but every time they looked like cutting it to single digits the Pelicans would push it back out. Matters were not helped by Paul George going 0-9 from the field (0-6 from three) and taking some truly horrific shots to try to get out of his slump. Harden and Norm kept the Clippers in it with Kawhi being doubled, and a big three by Coffey at the end of the half finally got the lead down to single digits, 55-47.

The third quarter was pretty hideous for both teams. Neither team could get much going on offense, with Kawhi and PG continuing to brick for the most part and the Pelicans not doing much better. Ivica Zubac got a couple buckets, and that was it. About halfway through the period Ty Lue went small with Russ for Zu to juice the offense. It worked, as Kawhi was able to get going. Unfortunately, the Pelicans’ offense also got revved up, and the Clippers could not make headway. The bench came in late, and things got no better, with another bad Russ shift coinciding with Zion torching Plumlee. It seemed fortunate the Clippers trailed only 79-69 after three.

The Clippers went on a lightning quick 5-0 run to get the Pelicans’ lead down to five, forcing a timeout from the Pels in less than a minute. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Clippers would get. For some reason, Plumlee stayed in the game, and Zion continued to mercilessly hunt him, eventually fouling Plumlee out at the 8:17 mark and putting the Pelicans up 11. Ty tried small ball and then the Powell Rangers unit, but nothing worked, with the Clippers looking sloppy on both ends and the Pelicans (mostly McCollum) now hitting their shots. With 4:15 to go and the Pelicans up just 14, Ty waved the white flag, sensing the exhaustion of his team, and garbage time commenced.

Notes

Everyone Was Bad: The Clippers just got back from a long and exhausting road trip, and looked it. The only players who had good games were Norm (18 points on 14 shots) and Zu (12 points and 8 rebounds in 21 minutes), with Harden having a good box score (efficient 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists) but with a really awful defensive performance and too much passivity in the 2^nd half. Both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard were terrible, with PG barfing up bad shots and Kawhi struggling against the hard double teams. Russ was 2-7 and had three turnovers in 18 minutes. Amir was solid enough but quiet. Terance was invisible. And Plumlee was effective on offense but got destroyed on defense. Ty gets a negative grade for letting Plumlee get destroyed on defense. An awful showing all around.

Trade Deadline Tomorrow: The NBA trade deadline is tomorrow at 3 PM ET, and that means we should see some action around the NBA. Three small trades happened today, but hopefully there are more moves made tomorrow. I would expect the Clippers to be fairly quiet, though a Bones Hyland dump and/or PJ Tucker trade for a forward upgrade seem quite possible if not likely. We will see, but this roster will probably look at least slightly different on Saturday.

Clippers Play Terribly, Lose to Pelicans 117-106
Robert Flom

The Clippers are finally back home in LA, but their schedule gets no easier as they face their long-time kryptonite, the New Orleans Pelicans.

Game Information

Where: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California

When: 7:00 PM PT

How to Watch: ESPN, Watch ESPN, AM 570

Tickets: For great deals on Clippers tickets, check out Barry’s Tickets! 

Projected Starting Lineups

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

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

Injuries

Pelicans: None

Clippers: Ivica Zubac Probable (Calf), Moussa Diabate Out (Hand)

The Big Picture

The Clippers have won four in a row, closing their last Grammy road trip on a high note. Kawhi Leonard continues to look like one of the best players in basketball, James Harden keeps the offense running in sync, Paul George is doing his best super role player impression, and the rest of the roster is fitting in as needed. With Ivica Zubac back, the Clippers’ primary roster players are healthy, setting them up well for the last week before the All Star break and hopefully coming out rejuvenated the other side. Oh, and no big deal – after the Thunder and Wolves lost last night, the Clippers are now first in the West.

The Antagonist

The Pelicans have won three games in a row to get to 29-21, tied for 6^th place in the Western Conference. They’ve floated in that 5-9 range all season, unable to break through to the top tier but too good to fall far into the play-in. For a team that was beset by injuries to start the season, the Pelicans have been mostly healthy of late. Instead, their issue has been consistency, looking great for a couple games and then dropping a couple inexplicable losses. The Pelicans do have a lot of talent and can win any game, so they are not to be taken lightly. While Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson are the biggest profile names on the roster (and have had good seasons), the guy to watch is CJ McCollum, who has shot a scorching 43.7% from three on 7.9 attempts per game.

Notes

Stopping Zion: The first time these teams played this season, PJ Tucker was still in the rotation and was a big part in slowing Zion. In the Clippers’ second game against the Pels, they sent a variety of defenders at him, with Kawhi Leonard picking a lot of the slack. It will be interesting to see who gets the assignment this time, as Zion is a tiring player to defend and a mismatch against most teams. If it is Kawhi, the Clippers will probably not be able to rely on him as much offensively. Then again, with Kawhi, who knows.

Attacking CJ: I mentioned CJ as being very dangerous up above, and that’s certainly true on offense. But even though he tries, he’s undersized on defense and all of the Clippers’ stars should be able to go at him. He will probably be stashed on Terance Mann or Amir Coffey, but the Clippers should try to get him switched onto Kawhi, Harden, PG, or even Russ as much as possible, as they can either bully him with strength or shoot over him. The Pelicans have some excellent wing defenders, so the Clippers need to be smart, pick their spots, and attack the Pels’ weakest link on that end.

213Hoops may receive compensation for some links to products and services in this post.

Clippers vs Pelicans Preview: Back on Home Soil
Robert Flom

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