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Fresh off an impressive win over the Bucks in Milwaukee and winners of 14 of their last 18 games, the Cavs return home to engage the white hot Los Angeles Clippers. This is the first meeting of these teams this year. They won’t play again until April 7 in LA.
The Clippers are a tale of two seasons, the first where they started 8-10, and the second where they have gone 22-4 in their last 26 games. Just in January the Clippers have defeated Miami by 17 points, Phoenix by 27, OKC and the Lakers by 11, all at home. On the road they beat Phoenix by 9, New Orleans by 16, and Boston by 21. They have been hammering some good teams. Their only losses in January were to the Lakers by 3 and OKC by 4, both on the road.
On Saturday they destroyed the Celtics in Boston, where the Celtics were 20-1. The Clippers were up 91-60 after three quarters and the 4th was garbage time. The Clippers’ defense was suffocating; Jaylen Brown had just 7 points. The Celtics were missing Porzingis but still…all the Clippers’ starters were between +23 and +36 in 21-29 minutes. I think the Clippers are possibly the best team in the NBA right now.
The Clippers were only 10-for-40 on 3-pointers (well below their norm) against the Celtics but still blew them away in three quarters.
The Clippers remind me a lot of the team the Cavs just played, Milwaukee. Both teams spent a ton of money on aging superstars in an attempt to put together a dominant starting five, although at the expense of depth. It makes sense because in a playoff series the rotation is reduced to 7-8 players and the stars play more minutes since there are no back-to-backs. In a playoff series the team with three superstars will beat the team with two, and the team with two will beat the team with one. The team with one (e.g. Michael Jordan) will be the team with none (the Price/Daugherty/Nance/Harper Cavs).
Everybody is trying to assemble a team with three superstars like the Heat had with LeBron, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade.
Kawhi Leonard leads the Clips at 23.7 ppg and 6.2 rebounds. He’s shooting 52% overall and 44% on 3’s. Right behind is Paul George at 23.5 points on 47% and 42% shooting. James Harden rounds out the superstar trifecta at 17.3 points and 8.5 assists, also shooting 47% and 42%. Terance Mann is the starting shooting guard and averages 7.6 ppg.
Starting center Ivica Zubac is out. His replacements are is career journeymen Mason Plumlee and Daniel Theis. However, those two combined for 26 points and 14 rebounds against the Celtics, going 12-for-13 from the field. I’m not the Clippers lose anything with Zubac out.
The Clippers are a very old team, even older than the Bucks. Leonard is 32, George 33, Harden 34, Russell Westbrook 35, Norman Powell 30, and Plumlee is 33. This could be a factor since the Clips will be playing their third game in four nights, all on the road, having played in Toronto Friday and in Boston Saturday. The Cavs have had two days off at home so they will be more rested, although the Clippers starters didn’t play that much on Saturday.
The Clippers have been extremely lucky with injuries. They’ve played 44 games with four starters playing between 39-42 games and Mann playing in 37. Their top six scorers put up 102 of the team’s 118 points per game. They're highly dependent on a few aging players, but so far these guys have held up really well.
With Zubac out the Clippers are not a big team; Plumlee is 6’10”, starting forwards Leonard and George are 6’7” and 6’8”, and the backup center, Daniel Theis, is 6’8”. The backup forwards are Norman Powell, 6’4”, and Amir Coffey, 6’7”, who is averaging 4.6 points in 16 minutes per game. They're not young, they're not big, but they are long on skill and experience.
In January the Clips are shooting an incredible 52.6% from the field and 46.6% on 3’s and averaging 122.1 points per game. Defensively, they are allowing 111.7 ppg, so they are outscoring opponents by over 10 points per game.
For the season the Clips are 4th in effective field goal percentage. They lead the league in 3-point percentage at a whopping 39.8%, which as mentioned before is up to 46.6% in January. They are 11th in 2-point percentage - above average but not on the level of their 3’s. Obviously the key for the Cavs’ defense is to run them off the 3-point line or at least get a hand in their faces. They were just 10-for-40 against Boston, probably because they were playing on the second night of a back-to-back with travel. I expect with a day off they're shoot better tonight.
The Clippers play a slow tempo game, ranking 25th in field goal attempts per game. I assume they take their time on offense, working to get a matchup advantage for Harden, George, or Leonard. I’m thinking the Cavs should try and push the pace on offense, fast breaking whenever possible, and run a movement offense that forces these old fellas to run more than they really want to playing their third game in four days. Tire out their legs and the 3’s will start hitting the front of the rim.
Defensively, the Clippers are 8th in scoring defense and effective field goal percentage. Their highest ranking is in steals where they are 5th, which surprised me. These wily veterans are great at anticipating where the pass will go so the Cavs can’t be too obvious. The Clips had eight steals and eight blocks against the Celtics.
The Cavs will definitely be the younger and more rested team, so they should try to run the Clippers off their feet. The Cavs need to hang with them in the first half and hope fatigue affects the Clippers’ three-point shooting in the second half.
The Clippers depend on Leonard, George, Harden, Powell, and Westbrook for about 90 of their 118 points and they’re all 32-34 years old except Powell. The harder the Cavs can push the pace and not let them rest on defense the better.
This game could see the return of Evan Mobley, although his minutes will be limited to the low 20s. If the Cavs can rotate Dean Wade and Mobley on Kawhi Leonard that would be ideal. I assume Okoro will guard James Harden and Strus/LeVert will take Paul George.
As of yesterday Donovan Mitchell was listed as a game time decision with a groin injury. If he can't go the Cavs' chances take a nosedive.
Nobody is playing better than the Clippers right now so this game will be another great test on top of the two games in Milwaukee last week to see exactly how the Cavs stack up against a couple of the best teams in the Association at the halfway point. The Cavs are the only NBA team that is 9-1 in their last 10 with the only loss being on the road to Milwaukee, who was 19-4 at home. The Cavs don’t have the individual star power of the Clippers but they are younger, more rested, and are at home so this should be a great game.
The Clippers are a tale of two seasons, the first where they started 8-10, and the second where they have gone 22-4 in their last 26 games. Just in January the Clippers have defeated Miami by 17 points, Phoenix by 27, OKC and the Lakers by 11, all at home. On the road they beat Phoenix by 9, New Orleans by 16, and Boston by 21. They have been hammering some good teams. Their only losses in January were to the Lakers by 3 and OKC by 4, both on the road.
On Saturday they destroyed the Celtics in Boston, where the Celtics were 20-1. The Clippers were up 91-60 after three quarters and the 4th was garbage time. The Clippers’ defense was suffocating; Jaylen Brown had just 7 points. The Celtics were missing Porzingis but still…all the Clippers’ starters were between +23 and +36 in 21-29 minutes. I think the Clippers are possibly the best team in the NBA right now.
The Clippers were only 10-for-40 on 3-pointers (well below their norm) against the Celtics but still blew them away in three quarters.
The Clippers remind me a lot of the team the Cavs just played, Milwaukee. Both teams spent a ton of money on aging superstars in an attempt to put together a dominant starting five, although at the expense of depth. It makes sense because in a playoff series the rotation is reduced to 7-8 players and the stars play more minutes since there are no back-to-backs. In a playoff series the team with three superstars will beat the team with two, and the team with two will beat the team with one. The team with one (e.g. Michael Jordan) will be the team with none (the Price/Daugherty/Nance/Harper Cavs).
Everybody is trying to assemble a team with three superstars like the Heat had with LeBron, Chris Bosh, and Dwayne Wade.
Kawhi Leonard leads the Clips at 23.7 ppg and 6.2 rebounds. He’s shooting 52% overall and 44% on 3’s. Right behind is Paul George at 23.5 points on 47% and 42% shooting. James Harden rounds out the superstar trifecta at 17.3 points and 8.5 assists, also shooting 47% and 42%. Terance Mann is the starting shooting guard and averages 7.6 ppg.
Starting center Ivica Zubac is out. His replacements are is career journeymen Mason Plumlee and Daniel Theis. However, those two combined for 26 points and 14 rebounds against the Celtics, going 12-for-13 from the field. I’m not the Clippers lose anything with Zubac out.
The Clippers are a very old team, even older than the Bucks. Leonard is 32, George 33, Harden 34, Russell Westbrook 35, Norman Powell 30, and Plumlee is 33. This could be a factor since the Clips will be playing their third game in four nights, all on the road, having played in Toronto Friday and in Boston Saturday. The Cavs have had two days off at home so they will be more rested, although the Clippers starters didn’t play that much on Saturday.
The Clippers have been extremely lucky with injuries. They’ve played 44 games with four starters playing between 39-42 games and Mann playing in 37. Their top six scorers put up 102 of the team’s 118 points per game. They're highly dependent on a few aging players, but so far these guys have held up really well.
With Zubac out the Clippers are not a big team; Plumlee is 6’10”, starting forwards Leonard and George are 6’7” and 6’8”, and the backup center, Daniel Theis, is 6’8”. The backup forwards are Norman Powell, 6’4”, and Amir Coffey, 6’7”, who is averaging 4.6 points in 16 minutes per game. They're not young, they're not big, but they are long on skill and experience.
In January the Clips are shooting an incredible 52.6% from the field and 46.6% on 3’s and averaging 122.1 points per game. Defensively, they are allowing 111.7 ppg, so they are outscoring opponents by over 10 points per game.
For the season the Clips are 4th in effective field goal percentage. They lead the league in 3-point percentage at a whopping 39.8%, which as mentioned before is up to 46.6% in January. They are 11th in 2-point percentage - above average but not on the level of their 3’s. Obviously the key for the Cavs’ defense is to run them off the 3-point line or at least get a hand in their faces. They were just 10-for-40 against Boston, probably because they were playing on the second night of a back-to-back with travel. I expect with a day off they're shoot better tonight.
The Clippers play a slow tempo game, ranking 25th in field goal attempts per game. I assume they take their time on offense, working to get a matchup advantage for Harden, George, or Leonard. I’m thinking the Cavs should try and push the pace on offense, fast breaking whenever possible, and run a movement offense that forces these old fellas to run more than they really want to playing their third game in four days. Tire out their legs and the 3’s will start hitting the front of the rim.
Defensively, the Clippers are 8th in scoring defense and effective field goal percentage. Their highest ranking is in steals where they are 5th, which surprised me. These wily veterans are great at anticipating where the pass will go so the Cavs can’t be too obvious. The Clips had eight steals and eight blocks against the Celtics.
The Cavs will definitely be the younger and more rested team, so they should try to run the Clippers off their feet. The Cavs need to hang with them in the first half and hope fatigue affects the Clippers’ three-point shooting in the second half.
The Clippers depend on Leonard, George, Harden, Powell, and Westbrook for about 90 of their 118 points and they’re all 32-34 years old except Powell. The harder the Cavs can push the pace and not let them rest on defense the better.
This game could see the return of Evan Mobley, although his minutes will be limited to the low 20s. If the Cavs can rotate Dean Wade and Mobley on Kawhi Leonard that would be ideal. I assume Okoro will guard James Harden and Strus/LeVert will take Paul George.
As of yesterday Donovan Mitchell was listed as a game time decision with a groin injury. If he can't go the Cavs' chances take a nosedive.
Nobody is playing better than the Clippers right now so this game will be another great test on top of the two games in Milwaukee last week to see exactly how the Cavs stack up against a couple of the best teams in the Association at the halfway point. The Cavs are the only NBA team that is 9-1 in their last 10 with the only loss being on the road to Milwaukee, who was 19-4 at home. The Cavs don’t have the individual star power of the Clippers but they are younger, more rested, and are at home so this should be a great game.
