The Clippers travel to OKC in what was the most challenging game on their calendar even before the news that James Harden is out due to injury.

Game Information

Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

When: 5:00 PM PT

How to Watch: NBA TV, FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: Bogdan Bogdanovic – Kris Dunn – Kawhi Leonard – John Collins – Ivica Zubac

Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Cason Wallace – Lu Dort – Jalen Williams – Chet Holmgren

Injuries

Clippers: James Harden Out (Calf), Bradley Beal Out (Hip), Derrick Jones Jr. Out (Knee), Chris Paul Out (Not with team), Yanic Konan Niederhauser Out (Knee)

Thunder: Isaiah Hartenstein Out (Rest), Jaylin Williams Out (Heel), Nikola Topic Out (Cancer), Thomas Sorber Out (Knee)

The Big Picture

The Clippers have lost four games in a row, falling to a tie with the Sacramento Kings for the 13^th spot in the Western Conference. Perhaps even more embarrassingly, there are just two teams in the entire NBA with worse records: the 5-22 Pelicans and 4-20 Wizards. That the Clippers are right down there with the true dregs of the NBA despite their veteran roster and preseason expectations is an organizational catastrophe, especially as we are now at the one-third mark of the NBA season. Their Net Rating is 25^th in the league, ahead of the Wizards, Pelicans, Kings, Pacers, and Jazz, meaning the underlying indicators are only very slightly better than the actual record. The defense remains embarrassingly bad (26^th), and until that improves the Clippers just won’t win many games.

The Antagonist

The Thunder are coming off a disappointing loss as well. Unlike the Clippers, it’s only their second disappointing loss of the season. The Thunder are 24-2, have the best Net Rating in NBA history, and are undefeated at home. Even with a couple losses on their resume, they will be favorites in almost every game they play in the rest of the season, except maybe road contests against the other best teams in the league. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is neck-and-neck with Jokic for early-season MVP, Chet Holmgren has leveled up, Ajay Mitchell is a steal, and the roster is extremely deep in rotation caliber players. Even discounting Chet and Jalen Johnson, you could make credible cases for Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, Aaron Wiggins, and Isaiah Joe as being better than any Clippers’ player after Harden, Kawhi, and Zu. It’s an embarrassment of riches for the best team in the league.

Notes

No Harden: James Harden will miss his second game of the season, and it will be his first miss due to injury. Apparently, his status for Saturday night against the Lakers is up in the air as well. The Clippers should get a boost in defense with Harden out, but the damage to their offense would be catastrophic even if they weren’t playing the best defense in the NBA. I’d guess Bogdan Bogdanovic starts, but it’s possible RayJ Dennis gets thrown into the fire as a more “traditional” point guard option. If the Clippers can even be respectable in this game without Harden, it would count as a moral victory of some kind. Let’s just hope Harden’s calf heals up quickly, because their situation would go from “desperately bad” to “utterly hopeless” if he were to miss real time.

Clippers vs Thunder Preview: Toughest Game of the Year
Robert Flom

The Clippers have had an up-and-down start to their season, and now face off against the West-leading Thunder on the second night of a back-to-back. It’s probably going to be a tough one.

Game Information

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California

When: 8:00

How to Watch: NBC, Peacock, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Cason Wallace – Lu Dort – Chet Holmgren – Isaiah Hartenstein

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

Injuries

Thunder: Chet Holmgren Questionable (Back), Lu Dort Questionable (Illness), Ousmane Dieng Questionable (Calf), Jalen Williams Out (Wrist), Kenrich Williams Out (Knee), Nikola Topic Out (Cancer), Thomas Sorber Out (Knee)

Clippers: Jordan Miller Out (Hamstring), Kobe Sanders Out (Knee)

The Clippers are playing at home and are much healthier than the Thunder, but the Thunder are 7-0 for a reason: they have the best defense in the league and boast a clear top-five player in SGA. The Clippers can definitely win this one, especially if Dort and Chet are out, but they will need to be better on defense and more turnover-conscious on offense than they have been to pull out the victory.

Clippers vs Thunder Game Thread: The Best in the West
Robert Flom

The Clippers have won five games in a row, but face their toughest contest so far against the league-best Oklahoma City Thunder.

Game Information

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, CA

When: 6:00 PM PT

How to Watch: NBA TV, KTLA, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Cason Wallace – Aaron Wiggins – Chet Holmgren – Isaiah Hartenstein

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

Injuries

Thunder: Jalen Williams Questionable (Hip), Lu Dort Questionable (Hip), Ousmane Dieng Questionable Calf), Ajay Mitchell Out (Knee), Nikola Topic Out (Knee),

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)

The Big Picture

While the Clippers’ five-game winning streak has not gained them much ground on the Warriors or Timberwolves on either side of them, it has done two very important things. First, it has firmly insulated them as no lower than the 8^th seed – with a 4.5 game lead on the Kings with just 12 games to go, it would take an insane collapse for the Clippers to fall below Sacramento. Second, the Clippers’ surge has coincided with the slowing of several teams further ahead of them – Memphis, the Lakers, and Denver. They’re still 3.5 games behind the Lakers and Nuggets, and 2.5 behind the Grizzlies, but they have the series win against the Grizzlies and have at least an outside chance of catching the other teams as well, with the Nuggets looking particularly vulnerable due to Jokic’s injuries. If the Clippers can just keeping winning at a steady rate, they have a real chance of passing at least one team for 6^th, which is all they need.

The Antagonist

The Thunder have been the best team in the NBA basically all season. At 58-12, they’ve clinched the Western Conference with three weeks to go, and have a two-game lead on the Cavs for the best record in the entire league. That the Thunder have been able to do all that with major injuries to their roster (Chet Holmgren has missed 46 games, Isaiah Hartenstein 22, Alex Caruso 25, and Jalen Williams nine and counting) says a lot about their depth, coaching, and the superstar play of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Shai has come a long way from when he was a promising rookie on the joyous 2019 Clippers. He’s the rightful MVP frontrunner, will be an All-NBA 1^st Team honoree for the third straight season, and is putting together one of the best stretches of guard play this century. He will need Chet, and Jalen, and Hartenstein, and the rest of the Thunder crew to make the deep playoff run the Thunder have been building towards, but Shai is, to put it simply, that guy, and his carrying the Thunder to a record in the mid-60s is a remarkable accomplishment.

Notes

Guarding Shai: The Clippers, like every team in the NBA, will have their hands full with Shai, who is leading the league in scoring at 32.9 points per game while scoring at an insane 64.6% True Shooting efficiency. The Clippers are almost certainly going to start Kris Dunn on Shai, and will rotate in Derrick Jones for Dunn in their standard rotations. Nic Batum and Ben Simmons will probably get looks on Shai as well. But ultimately, especially with Jalen Williams out, the Clippers’ best bet is probably just to get the ball out of his hands entirely through doubles and traps. While the Thunder’s main rotation players are better three-point shooters than Dunn or DJJ, I’d also be fine if the Clippers left Chet, Jaylin Williams, Kenrich Williams, and Alex Caruso largely alone from three to protect the paint from Shai, Chet, and Hartenstein. I’ll be curious to see how the Clippers approach the Thunder on defense, because letting Shai force switches on the Clippers’ weaker perimeter defenders won’t be tenable, and he’s too good at doing that if you let him see one coverage for an extended time.

Bogi With the Starters: The Clippers moved Bogdan Bogdanovic in with the starting group to begin the third quarter against the Grizzlies in place of Dunn, as the Grizzlies were helping off Dunn (and DJJ) to such a large extent that it was throwing the Clippers’ offense off. That unit with Bogi was extremely effective, and it is just a dynamite group on offense with tons of shooting and ballhandling. The questions are on defense, with Bogi, Norm Powell, and James Harden being a rather poor group of perimeter defenders. I think the Clippers should continue going to this lineup as needed, but that’s an instance of a group that I just think has no chance of guarding Shai, so I’m not sure how feasible that unit will be in this game.

Clippers vs Thunder Preview: Can the Clippers Keep the Win Streak Going?
Robert Flom

The Clippers seem to be close to getting Kawhi Leonard back, but first have one of their toughest games of the year, a road contest against the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.

Game Information

Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

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

Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Cason Wallace – Lu Dort – Jalen Williams – Isaiah Hartenstein

Injuries

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

Thunder: Chet Holmgren Out (Hip), Alex Caruso Out (Hip), Nikola Topic Out (Knee), Adam Flagler Out (Hand)

The Big Picture

The Clippers are coming off one of their worst losses of the season, having gotten the absolute snot beaten out of them in San Antonio. That game was a schedule loss in the most obvious fashion, but the Clippers’ lax turnovers on offense and lack of force or intensity on defense was still worrisome. Hopefully it was just fatigue and more of a one-game phenomenon. Overall, despite a few blowout losses and a couple other harder to excuse defeats, the Clippers remain well ahead of expectations given Kawhi Leonard’s health status so far this year. One loss, as bad as the Spurs defeat was, is no reason to panic. Even a similar type of blowout to the dominant Thunder would not be cause for alarm – there’s a large sample size of this Clippers team being pretty solid, and we’d need a real opposing sample size to cause sentiment to swing in another direction.

The Antagonist

The Thunder have won 12 games in a row (not counting the NBA Cup Final), putting them at 27-5 with a healthy lead for first place in the Western Conference. The Thunder are winning on both ends, as they have the best defense in the NBA (by far) with a pretty good offense. The defense is more of a group effort, as the Thunder play only a couple rotation pieces that aren’t very good defenders or better, and have several All-Defense level players. The offense is much more of a one-man show, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander working his way to the top of the MVP race due to his exceptional scoring, efficiency, and consistency this season. The Thunder are well-coached, play hard, have an amazing home court, and combine superstar talent with great depth. The only two teams in the NBA on their level are the Cavs and Celtics, and the Thunder have a very good argument as the team to beat in the whole league.

Notes

Slowing Shai: Shai is an MVP-caliber player, so he’s basically impossible to stop in one-on-one coverage, even with a couple of excellent options in Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. Instead, the key is to force the ball out of his hands as much as possible and put pressure on his less talented teammates to score and create. Jalen Williams is very good, Isaiah Hartenstein is awesome, and the Thunder have some shooters, but nobody remotely close to Shai’s level as a scorer or playmaker. Sending two at Shai and just trying to scramble as much as possible in help to force the next pass and get the ball to the weakest offensive player on the court is probably the best option right now. Dunn and DJJ are going to get their cracks at Shai, but I hope we see some unique and dynamic coverages on Shai to hopefully keep him at least a bit out of his comfort zone.

Hartenstein’s Revenge: If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: the Clippers passing over Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency in July 2022 is one of the biggest mistakes in franchise history. Having been a great backup for the Clippers that season, Hart turned himself into a proven, reliable backup center for the Knicks before moving to the starting role last year with Mitchell Robinson out. So far this season he’s been the Thunder’s starter with Chet Holmgren out, and he’s been unsurprisingly fantastic. Hartenstein is averaging career highs in minutes (30.1), points (12.7), rebounds (12.4), assists (3.8), and blocks (1.2), and is a lynchpin for the Thunder on both sides of the ball. No longer just a backup, Hartenstein is proving to be a very good starting center for one of the best teams in the NBA. Even if he might not have become this if he’d stayed with the Clippers, Hartenstein would have been worth every penny they’d given him – and the Clippers have not been able to fill the backup center spot since he left. Alas.

Clippers vs Thunder Preview: As Tough as It Gets
Robert Flom

The Clippers will try to push their winning streak to five games on the road against the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.

Game Information

Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

When: 5:00 PM PT

How to Watch: NBA TV, FanDuel Sports SoCal

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: James Harden – Norm Powell – Derrick Jones Jr. – Terance Mann – Ivica Zubac

Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Lu Dort – Aaron Wiggins – Jalen Williams – Chet Holmgren

Injuries

Clippers: Kawhi Leonard Out (Knee), Mo Bamba Out (Knee), PJ Tucker Out (Away From Team), Cam Christie Out (G-League), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League)

Thunder: Chet Holmgren Questionable (Hip), Isaiah Hartenstein Out (Hand), Jaylin Williams Out (Hamstring), Kenrich Williams Out (Knee), Nikola Topic Out (Knee)

The Big Picture

I wrote a ton about the Clippers in my player grades here, so I won’t go in too much depth in this post. Suffice it to say vibes are pretty strong with the Clippers winning their last four games and pushing their record to 6-4 after 10 games. Their defense is excellent, they play hard, and they’ve gotten just enough on offense to get by. They have also generally played entertaining games and been fun to watch, outside of some frustration with Kai Jones and Kevin Porter Jr.

The Antagonist

The Thunder have lost two of their last three games after starting the season 7-0 and winning all seven by double figures. To be fair, their two losses have been a close defeat at the hands of the suddenly flaming hot Nuggets and a blowout against the similarly hot Warriors after Chet missed most of the game, so it’s not like they’re losing to scrubs. But they have also been revealed as beatable, and their offense continues to be just “good” instead of “awesome”. They will presumably come out with a vengeance in this one after their loss last night – I’d expect a very strong start from them, regardless of whether Chet is playing or not.

Notes

Ty Lue’s 10-Game Sample Is Up: Ty Lue has famously liked to judge his team in 10 game increments. Well, the first 10 games are in the books, and it’s time to see what Ty Lue adjusts after this first benchmark. It’s possible the answer, at least in obvious rotation terms, is nothing. Kevin Porter Jr.’s last two games might have been enough to save him from the proverbial chopping block (there’s really no evidence Ty would have gone away from him anyway, regardless of how awful he was). Terance Mann has disappointed as a starter, but the Clippers aren’t playing him that much regardless and the starting unit as a whole has played fine. Kai Jones seems the guy closest to losing his spot, having been benched in multiple second halves of games, but the Clippers might not want to play small all the time when Zu isn’t in the game. If I had to pick any rotation adjustment Ty will make it would be removing Kai from the rotation entirely, but I don’t know if I’d bet on it.

Does Chet Play: Thunder star big man Chet Holmgren left the game against the Warriors last night with a hip injury, and based on his being ruled out of that contest and the painful nature of the injury, there’s a good chance he might miss this game too. If he’s out, the Thunder will be down their first, second, and third string big men, with the biggest active player on their roster being third-year forward Ousmane Dieng. Chet being out changes everything. The Thunder will still have a ferocious perimeter defense and an MVP-level player in SGA, but their interior defense will go from great to non-existent, and they’ll lose firepower on offense as well. This becomes a winnable, albeit still challenging game if Chet does not play.

Clippers vs Thunder Preview: Extending the Win Streak
Robert Flom

The Clippers are winless at home to start the 2025 season, and will have a challenge getting their first W at Intuit against the visiting Thunder.

Game Information

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California

When: 7:30 PM PT

How to Watch: Bally/FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Cason Wallace – Jalen Williams – Lu Dort – Chet Holmgren

Clippers: James Harden – Norman Powell – Derrick Jones Jr. – Terance Mann – Ivica Zubac

Injuries

Thunder: Isaiah Hartenstein Out (Hand), Jaylin Williams Out (Hamstring), Kenrich Williams Out (Knee), Nikola Topic Out (Knee)

Clippers: Kawhi Leonard Out (Knee), Mo Bamba Out (Knee), PJ Tucker Out (Away from Team), Cam Christie Out (G-League), Trentyn Flowers Out (G-League)

The Big Picture

Clippers’ optimism, which was soaring high less than a week ago, has come crashing down to earth after back-to-back brutal losses on Wednesday and Thursday. More than anything, it’s the pattern in all five games this season that has been disturbing for fans: the Clippers build a lead due to defense and some combination of Harden-Zu brilliance or Norm shotmaking, then lose it as those guys get tired and turnovers mount without other options on offense. The Clippers have been highly competitive in every game and their defense looks great, and those are reasons to be entertained every night, but the end of game execution on offense has been very frustrating.

The Antagonist

The Thunder have been dominant to start the season, going 5-0 while winning all of their games by double-digits. While they have notable talent on offense, the Thunder have been winning games on defense: they rank first in Defensive Rating by a mile with a 95.7 mark, with the second-best defense placing at 98.4 (Warriors). The Clippers’ defense has been excellent and they rank 7th at 108.8, showing the gap between the two teams. On offense, the Thunder are powered by MVP-candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who remains one of the hardest players to guard in the NBA. Add in rising stars Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams surrounded by plenty of shooting and you have a dynamic, deep, athletic team that looks like one of the 2-3 best teams in the league. The Thunder are a tough, tough out every game.

Notes

Small-Ball Second Unit Time: The Thunder are great, but they are short on big men with Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams out. They have thus been playing Ousmane Dieng, a forward, as their backup center. This mkes it a perfect game for Ty Lue to go small in the second unit and play Nic Batum at center, maybe allowing him to play someone like Kobe Brown or Jordan Miller some minutes as well. Kai Jones has not been a positive player for the Clipper so far off the bench, with his energy, hustle, and athleticism being outweighed by his inability to rebound or set screens. For once, I’d be interested in Ty Lue going with more small-ball in the second unit in this one, especially if it means playing the young guys who have not logged any minutes so far this year.
Avoid Turnovers: Turnovers have been a major issue for the Clippers this year, but they are a death knell against the Thunder, who are athletic and excellent at pushing the pace in transition. They are fantastic at forcing turnovers, and even better at punishing teams that give the ball away. It’s going to be tough for the Clippers to not have many giveaways against the long, young, feisty Thunder, but they’ll need to do their best to limit giveaways if they want to have any chance of winning this one.

Clippers vs Thunder Preview: The Best in the West
Robert Flom

The LA Clippers’ played the Thunder even for the first half of the game, but they let the home team build a lead in the third quarter and could not forge a comeback. Read more about it below and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Summary

The game was tight through the first half. Neither team led by more than eight, there were ten lead changes, and four ties. Ultimately, the Thunder took a two point lead into the break. Although the Clippers shot 52% from the field, only Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell were efficient as individuals (6/7 and 5/7 respectively) in the first half. Paul George struggled from the field all night, finishing 6/16 from the field and 1/6 from three.

As with the Clippers-Timberwolves game, the Clippers struggled in the third quarter. Specifically, they gave up a 13-0 run to the quarter, letting the Thunders’ lead grow to 17, which ultimately decided the game. Before garbage time, the Clippers threatened a comeback, but the Thunder hit shot after shot to keep the Clippers at (more than) arm’s length.

Notes

Standings Watch: After tonight’s loss, the Clippers are the third seed in the Western Conference. They have a one loss advantage over the Denver Nuggets, and are one and two losses behind the Thunder and Timberwolves respectively. On one hand, the Clippers are tied with the most post-All Star Break games, so there are more opportunities to lose. On the other hand, the Clippers have more opportunities to build on their chemistry and solidify their lineups.

Shot Distribution: So far this season, Kawhi and PG are averaging 17 shot attempts to Harden’s 11. Moreover, Kawhi is only taking five threes per game. Of course, their roles are different (especially Harden’s, who is responsible for running the offense), but the Clippers have to find more shots for Kawhi. In a way, one can be too efficient in that it reflect that a player is not aggressive enough—or the team is not searching for the player often enough. In high pressure games like this, especially with PG struggling, the Clippers have to find ways to get Kawhi more easy shots.

Thunder third quarter blitz beats Clippers, 129-107
Kenneth Armstrong

The Clippers will hope to recover from their loss to the West-leading Wolves against the second-best team in the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Game Information

Where: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA

When: 7:30 PM PT

How to Watch: TNT

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: James Harden – Terance Mann – Paul George – Kawhi Leonard – Daniel Theis

Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – Josh Giddey – Lu Dort – Jalen Williams – Chet Holmgren

Injury Report

Clippers: Ivica Zubac out (calf), Moussa Diabate out (hip).

Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander questionable (knee).

The Big Picture

The LA Clippers return home from a mini-road trip having gone 1-1. They now have a three-game home stand before embarking on one of the longest road trips of the season that will carry over into February.

With the Clippers loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, some of those same issues figure to be present against the Thunder.

No Ivica Zubac played a major factor in the loss. The Clippers offense was more iso-dependent than usual without his two-man game with James Harden and off ball mobility.

The Clippers will once again have to figure out how to navigate the game without their starting center, as Zubac has been ruled out against the Thunder.

They’re also going to need a little more out of the non-Kawhi starters. A good start is imperative.

The Antagonist

The Oklahoma City Thunder come into the game on the second night of a back to back having lost to the LA Lakers on Monday.

This is a young team with a lot of energy and athleticism, so don’t expect the back to back to faze them much, if at all. This team is going to come out ready to play and ready to wash away the taste of the Lakers loss.

One thing to monitor though is the status of Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The MVP candidate was questionable heading into the Laker game with a knee issue. Although he ultimately was cleared to play, he did not look quite like his usual self. He’s considered questionable again for this game.

Another thing the Clippers could have going for them is the Thunder frontline. While Chet Holmgren is a rising star himself, they don’t have the size Minnesota does that magnified the absence of Zubac even more.

This is a big game in standings as the Clippers are only two games back of the Thunder in the loss column. With the Thunder losing to the Lakers, this is a major opportunity to gain some ground.

Clippers vs. Thunder Game Preview: Another Tough One
David Yapkowitz

The Clippers have had a triumphant December so far, but they hit their first speed bump of the month Thursday night in a 134-115 defeat in Oklahoma City. Playing on the second night of a back-to-back without Kawhi Leonard, who is day-to-day with a minor hip injury suffered Wednesday in Dallas, the Clippers didn’t have the legs to match up with a young, dynamic, and talented Thunder squad that left them in the dust time and time again throughout the night.

James Harden led the way for the Clippers with 23 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists, but was challenged by the lengthy Thunder defense keying in on him as he shot just 7-18 from the field and turned the ball over 3 times, with multiple poke-aways as he tried to get penetration. Paul George, returning from illness, played just 29 minutes and posted 22 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists–a solid outing, but not enough to compete with an elite opponent on the road without Kawhi Leonard.

As one might expect, Ivica Zubac struggled with the Chet Holmgren matchup and played free safety early in a matchup with poor-shooting Thunder wing Josh Giddey, but when Giddey made three threes in the opening minutes of the game, Zubac was pulled and the Clippers played long stretches with no center on the floor. It’s hard enough for this team to play without a center when Leonard was active, but playing without a center and without their biggest wing led to some pick-up 5-out lineups (like Harden, Westbrook, Norm Powell, Brandon Boston, and Amir Coffey) that offered little resistance to the Thunder’s dribble penetration heavy offense.

The Clippers rallied several times–from down 13 to down 3 in the late first, from down 14 in the mid-2nd to up 1 early in the 3rd, from down 20 to down 13 in the 4th–but they were ultimately chasing Oklahoma City the entire game and found themselves reacting more slowly to loose balls in the third quarter as the Thunder put the game away. Call it a schedule loss if you want, as tired legs was certainly a contributing factor. Overall, that was part of a hill too big for the Clippers to climb, along with a very good opponent, Kawhi’s injury, George’s recovery from illness, and Oklahoma City’s hot shooting (they’re 6-0 this year when making 16 threes at 45%+).

Thunder Roll Clippers, Snap Winning Streak
Lucas Hann

I’ve been laying low and just trying to get through August-September, listening to all the 213 Hoops pods pretty quickly after they drop–and I’m hesitant to make even a peep or comment about the Clippers while Marcus Morris is still on the roster.

But I want to take a moment to go all in on OKC. I think R.Flom’s comments in his excellent Season Preview are measured and quite good, and it makes sense to hedge a fair amount. But I want to dig into the “and oh yeah, let’s not forget that Chet Holmgren will be joining this roster” impulse. Many of us here remember all too well the pain and extraordinary patience required to wait for Blake Griffin to make his NBA debut. The newly drafted players were bright and shiny, receiving all sorts of attention, especially John Wall.  The Clippers drafted Al-Farouq Aminu at #8, while Gordon Haywood was #9 and Paul George was #10 (gulp.) Griffin wasn’t exactly an afterthought, but he was given second-tier treatment going into the season. And then Blake went out and crushed everything in sight his rookie year.

There were factors and wrinkles to that great Clippers sequence, of course. Chet is a very different entity from Blake, and obviously he won’t overpower the entire league. But he is a fantastic player. If he and Victor Wembanyama were drafted together there would be all sorts of interesting conversations going on about them, and Holmgren might have given Paolo Banchero a good run for ROY, who knows. Doing an NBA redshirt year is an intriguing rarity, and Blake Griffin certainly made the most of it. Wemby should be fun to watch and make a significant impact, but he’s joining a team that has a long way to go. The situation with the Thunder and Chet Holmgren is completely different.

Speaking of rookies, what makes this semi-appropriate fodder for a Clipper website is that, in a twisted way, many of us consider Shai Gilgeous-Alexander one of our own. We saw him first, we instantly loved him with a fierce basketball passion, and we knew that giving him up, along with draft picks, was the ultimate price to pay, but it had to be done.  There was more than a faint suspicion that getting Paul George would be unnecessary overkill, that SGA would complement Kawhi just as well (if not better) soon enough, that he was a golden child. But it made sense that Kawhi didn’t know or see what SGA was, and it was a reasonable bet. Thinking about not making the trade is a bit like wondering about the Clippers path if they had drafted Paul George—just to complicate the vectors of a torturous counterfactual path. We all signed off on it, but we also knew what we were giving up.

SGA has become what a number of us thought and hoped he would be.  He was awesome and rising both quickly and steadily before last year, and we were eager to see what the Thunder would be like with Holmgren joining the roster.  But then Chet went down, and Shai took off.  It would be interesting to look at pre-injury Thunder previews from last year, when nobody knew that SGA was going to break the ceiling.  And that’s what he did.  Clipper fans were clued in early, as they lost games 4 and 5 to OKC, while Shai went for 33/24.

That was without Josh Giddey.  That’s the thing about OKC.  Set aside SGA’s ridiculous Year 5 leap into the stratosphere (2416mins/2135pts/329rbs/371ast).  Look at the Giddey Year 2 leap —1700/2367mins; 674/1260pts; 421/599rebs; 345/469asts. A big part of Shai’s success was that he reduced his 3pt attempts by 129, from 297 to 168, going from 30% to 34.5% in the process, while he increased his 2pt attempts from 755 (making 51.4%) to a league-leading 1213 (458 more, while climbing to 53.3%). That’s nuts, and with getting to the line 739 times and only missing 60 (90%), that’s how you average 31.8pts. 

That overshadows Josh Giddey.  He also shot 52.4% on 2pts, and he had 884 attempts.  The highest Clipper in 2pt attempts was Kawhi Leonard at 621 (55%).  Giddey took 20 more 3s last year (213/234) and made 20 more 3s (56/76), going from 26% to 32.5%. His eFG% went from 46% to 51.6%.  He can shoot and score and will get better—remember, that’s Year 2.  With no Chet Holmgren.

And the Thunder have a number of other perfectly good players.  They were short on length and rim protection (Holmgren), and won 40 games.  They’re adding the #10 pick in the draft, Cason Wallace, a one-year Kentucky player just like SGA, seemingly selected to complement SGA, Giddey, and Holmgren for years to come. 

It’s easy enough to keep going.  We still need to actually see Chet Holmgren play in the NBA. But I was reminded of Blake sitting out a year before his rookie season, and that sent me down this rabbit hole.  The Clippers have stars and plenty of weapons and a bright outlook on this upcoming season—which we can talk about as soon as the roster undergoes some final tweaks (a nice way of putting it). The time to win is now, as other teams will be getting better.  Respect to SGA.  After last year there are lots of things to be bitter about, but his spectacular success isn’t really one of them. Who knows, maybe the rising Thunder and aging Clippers could even meet in the playoffs one of these days….          

Clippers-Thunder Comps: Is Chet Holmgren Set Up to Be 2010 Blake Griffin?
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