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With their 16-game win streak over the Cavs catch the long flight to La-La land for the first game of a back-to-back on the road against the Clippers and Kings. This is the start of a five-game west coast swing, so get ready to stay up late if you want to watch.
The Clippers are 38-30 on the year and in 8th place in the West, 1.5 games out of 6th place and the automatic playoff qualification. Obviously every game is critical for them, not so much for the Cavs. The Clippers have won 6 of 7 and have won 7 straight at home, including wins over the Grizzlies, Knicks, and Pistons. They are healthy and playing some very good basketball right now. For the season they are 23-10 at home but 14-20 against teams at .500 or above. This is the first game of the year between these teams.
This is a very, very experienced team. James Harden is 35, Kawhi Leonard 33, Norman Powell 31, Bogdan Bogdanovic 32, Kris Dunn 30, Derrick Jones Jr and Ben Simmons 28, and Ivica Zubac and Amir Coffey 27. Nobody younger than 27 is in the rotation. They are not that big, however, as their entire rotation is 6’4” to 6’7” with the exception of Zibac at 7’0”, Ben Simmons at 6’10”, and Nick Batum at 6’8”. Simmons averages 20 minutes per game off the bench. Batum is 36 and averages 18 minutes.
The Clippers are on the low end of average offensively, ranking 21st in points per game. They play slow as you would expect with probably the league’s oldest team, ranking 21st in pace. They cough it up a lot, ranking 26th in turnovers per possession and as a result are 26th in field goal attempts per game.
They are average shooters, ranking 16th in effective field goal percentage. They only rank 25th in 3-point attempts, preferring the mid-range shot where they rank 5th in frequency. They don’t get a lot of offensive boards, ranking 20th. They’re 8th in points in the paint, so it appears they like to shoot the short jumpers and then get to the rim in that order.
The key for the Cavs’ defense will be to force a lot of turnovers and contest the short jumpers and layups, taking them out of their comfort zone.
Defensively the Clippers are solid, ranking 4th in opponents’ points per game. But part of that is because they play slowly on offense and force a lot of turnovers (4th most). As a result their opponents take the 4th fewest shots per game. But the Clippers also do a good job of forcing missed shots, ranking 9th in opponents’ effective field goal percentage. They are excellent defensive rebounders, ranking 5th, so you need to make your first one.
The one glaring weakness of the Clippers is rim defense as their opponents have the 3rd highest shooting percentage at the rim. This is not surprising considering the Clippers are old and don’t have a lot of length. They only average 4.5 blocks per game; Zubac gets 1.2 and nobody else is over 0.6.
Generally they only have one player over 6’7” on the floor at a time so I feel the Cavs should attack the rim relentlessly. This year Clippers’ opponents have the 7th highest percentage of shots at the rim as opposed to 26th highest on 3-pointers, so the book on the Clippers is to take it to the hole.
The Cavaliers are averaging 38.8% on 3’s for the season but only 34.4% so far in March, so they have fallen off the last two weeks. This is another reason they should not jack up a ton of 3’s against the Clippers. For some reason they just aren't hitting the 3's as well as they were before.
The Clippers feature a balanced scoring lineup with seven players averaging in double figures. Norman Powell leads the Clippers in scoring at 23.4 ppg on 49% overall and 42% on 3’s. He’s having a great year, but he missed 12 of the last 13 games because of knee and hamstring injuries before he returned Sunday and played 23 minutes, scoring 7 points.
James Harden averages 22.5 points and 8.7 assists but his shooting percentages are down at 40% and 35%. Kawhi Leonard is beating Father Time so far with a 19.0 average on 47% and 37%. He missed the first three months of the season.
Center Ivica Zubac averages 16.2 points and 12.5 rebounds and Derrick Jones Jr averages 10.5 points. Newly acquired Bogdan Bogdanovic averages 12.2 points off the bench on 46% and 37% while Amir Coffey averages 10.2 points on 47% and 41%.
They have a lot of guys who can score but they’re averaging 111.4 ppg, which is below average. However, in 9 games in March they’re up to 115.7 points and their shooting percentages are also up.
The Clippers are very experienced and know what they are doing. They’re healthy and coming on strong down the stretch. I wonder if all those 30-somethings were pacing themselves during the season and now they are ramping up for the playoffs. Whatever the reason they’re playing really well. Adding Bogdanovic and Ben Simmons at the deadline helped along with Leonard getting back. The Cavs are catching them at the wrong time for sure.
The Cavs will be looking to bounce back from the disappointing loss to the Magic, but it’s the Clippers that need every win they can get from here on out. They’ve been really good at home and really good recently. The Cavs need to limit turnovers and attack the rim on offense while forcing turnovers and defending the rim and the mid-range shots on defense. I’m expecting a close, low-scoring game. I don’t think the Cavs will shoot badly two games in a row. Of course a lot depends on whether Evan Mobley can play and if he’ll be 100%.
The Clippers are 38-30 on the year and in 8th place in the West, 1.5 games out of 6th place and the automatic playoff qualification. Obviously every game is critical for them, not so much for the Cavs. The Clippers have won 6 of 7 and have won 7 straight at home, including wins over the Grizzlies, Knicks, and Pistons. They are healthy and playing some very good basketball right now. For the season they are 23-10 at home but 14-20 against teams at .500 or above. This is the first game of the year between these teams.
This is a very, very experienced team. James Harden is 35, Kawhi Leonard 33, Norman Powell 31, Bogdan Bogdanovic 32, Kris Dunn 30, Derrick Jones Jr and Ben Simmons 28, and Ivica Zubac and Amir Coffey 27. Nobody younger than 27 is in the rotation. They are not that big, however, as their entire rotation is 6’4” to 6’7” with the exception of Zibac at 7’0”, Ben Simmons at 6’10”, and Nick Batum at 6’8”. Simmons averages 20 minutes per game off the bench. Batum is 36 and averages 18 minutes.
The Clippers are on the low end of average offensively, ranking 21st in points per game. They play slow as you would expect with probably the league’s oldest team, ranking 21st in pace. They cough it up a lot, ranking 26th in turnovers per possession and as a result are 26th in field goal attempts per game.
They are average shooters, ranking 16th in effective field goal percentage. They only rank 25th in 3-point attempts, preferring the mid-range shot where they rank 5th in frequency. They don’t get a lot of offensive boards, ranking 20th. They’re 8th in points in the paint, so it appears they like to shoot the short jumpers and then get to the rim in that order.
The key for the Cavs’ defense will be to force a lot of turnovers and contest the short jumpers and layups, taking them out of their comfort zone.
Defensively the Clippers are solid, ranking 4th in opponents’ points per game. But part of that is because they play slowly on offense and force a lot of turnovers (4th most). As a result their opponents take the 4th fewest shots per game. But the Clippers also do a good job of forcing missed shots, ranking 9th in opponents’ effective field goal percentage. They are excellent defensive rebounders, ranking 5th, so you need to make your first one.
The one glaring weakness of the Clippers is rim defense as their opponents have the 3rd highest shooting percentage at the rim. This is not surprising considering the Clippers are old and don’t have a lot of length. They only average 4.5 blocks per game; Zubac gets 1.2 and nobody else is over 0.6.
Generally they only have one player over 6’7” on the floor at a time so I feel the Cavs should attack the rim relentlessly. This year Clippers’ opponents have the 7th highest percentage of shots at the rim as opposed to 26th highest on 3-pointers, so the book on the Clippers is to take it to the hole.
The Cavaliers are averaging 38.8% on 3’s for the season but only 34.4% so far in March, so they have fallen off the last two weeks. This is another reason they should not jack up a ton of 3’s against the Clippers. For some reason they just aren't hitting the 3's as well as they were before.
The Clippers feature a balanced scoring lineup with seven players averaging in double figures. Norman Powell leads the Clippers in scoring at 23.4 ppg on 49% overall and 42% on 3’s. He’s having a great year, but he missed 12 of the last 13 games because of knee and hamstring injuries before he returned Sunday and played 23 minutes, scoring 7 points.
James Harden averages 22.5 points and 8.7 assists but his shooting percentages are down at 40% and 35%. Kawhi Leonard is beating Father Time so far with a 19.0 average on 47% and 37%. He missed the first three months of the season.
Center Ivica Zubac averages 16.2 points and 12.5 rebounds and Derrick Jones Jr averages 10.5 points. Newly acquired Bogdan Bogdanovic averages 12.2 points off the bench on 46% and 37% while Amir Coffey averages 10.2 points on 47% and 41%.
They have a lot of guys who can score but they’re averaging 111.4 ppg, which is below average. However, in 9 games in March they’re up to 115.7 points and their shooting percentages are also up.
The Clippers are very experienced and know what they are doing. They’re healthy and coming on strong down the stretch. I wonder if all those 30-somethings were pacing themselves during the season and now they are ramping up for the playoffs. Whatever the reason they’re playing really well. Adding Bogdanovic and Ben Simmons at the deadline helped along with Leonard getting back. The Cavs are catching them at the wrong time for sure.
The Cavs will be looking to bounce back from the disappointing loss to the Magic, but it’s the Clippers that need every win they can get from here on out. They’ve been really good at home and really good recently. The Cavs need to limit turnovers and attack the rim on offense while forcing turnovers and defending the rim and the mid-range shots on defense. I’m expecting a close, low-scoring game. I don’t think the Cavs will shoot badly two games in a row. Of course a lot depends on whether Evan Mobley can play and if he’ll be 100%.
