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The Cavs start a five-game home stand with a matchup against the 34-32 Los Angeles Clippers, who the Cavs stymied 92-79 way back in October. To show how much has changed since then, Sexton and Rubio combined for 41 points and 10 assists in that game. The two of them were directly involved in over 50% of the Cavs' scoring.
The Clippers are 16-20 on the road. On top of that they played in Detroit yesterday afternoon, beating the Pistons 106-102. Starting point guard Reggie Jackson, age 31, played 40 minutes. Marcus Morris Sr, 32, led the way with 31 points in 35 minutes. Hopefully these older guys will be a little fatigued after all the heavy lifting yesterday.
Paul George is out this time around. The Clippers have a .500 record when he does not play. Kawhi Leonard has not played this season and Norman Powell is out.
For the Cavs, it’s not clear who will be available. CBSSports lists Rondo, LeVert, Markkanen, and Wade as “game time decisions”.
The Clippers are not very imposing offensively, ranking 24th in scoring. They are more of a 3-point shooting team, ranking 27th in points in the paint and 4th in 3-point percentage. They hoist 3’s at a league average rate, but make a high percentage. They are below average in turnover rate and near the bottom in offensive rebounding and free throw attempts. The only thing they’re good at offensively is 3-point percentage.
Defensively, they’re above average, ranking 11th in opponents’ points per game. They’re excellent at forcing missed shots, ranking 4th in effective field goal percentage. They’re equally strong defending 2’s and 3’s. Opponents avoid shooting 3’s against them. The Clippers lead the league in preventing free throws - they force misses without fouling. The Cavs are 2nd, so don’t expect to see a lot of foul shots. This game could go pretty fast.
The Clippers are average at blocks and steals, but where they are extremely weak is defensive rebounding where they are dead last. But the difference between the Clippers at a 74.6% rebound rate and the best team at 78.7% is only 4%, so it’s not that significant unless the game is very close.
The Clippers have a tall lineup. Center Ivica Zubac is 7’0”, 240 pounds. I’m sure he will try to muscle Mobley like Adebayo and Vucevic did the last two games. He’s not as much of a scorer, though, averaging 10.1 points.
Their other starters are 6’8”, 6’7”, 6’7”, and 6’2” so I can see why they defend 3’s well with all that length on the perimeter.
PG Reggie Jackson averages 17.1 points but only 4.8 assists per game. He shoots only 39.6% from the field. As mentioned earlier he played 40 minutes yesterday so his legs may be tired.
SF Marcus Morris Sr averages 15.8 points on 43.7% shooting, but he got 31 last night. PF Nick Batum, another veteran at age 33, doesn’t shoot much (8.3 ppg) but he’s hitting 40.3% from deep. SG Amir Coffey only averages 8.6 points but is hitting 37.6% on 3’s.
Luke Kennard is their sharpshooter off the bench, hitting 45.6% of his 3’s. The Cavs definitely need to hound him when he’s on the perimeter and keep switching to prevent good looks. Dylan Windler should try an emulate this smooth-stroking lefty in every way he can. They’re both about the same size.
Ex-Cav Isaiah Hartenstein averages 7.6 points in 17 minutes a game. He ranks very high among centers in both points per shot attempt and assists per usage rate. However, he commits a lot of turnovers with his aggressive passing.
This could be a low scoring game. The first game was 92-79 and Paul George played, not to mention Sexton, Allen, and Rubio. The Clippers rank 24th in scoring and they played last night. They don’t have a backup point guard - in the six minutes that Jackson sat yesterday they didn’t have a point guard on the floor. Meanwhile the Cavs are really struggling to score with Allen, Markkanen, and LeVert out.
So we have two good defenses, two teams that struggle to score, and the two fewest fouling teams in the league. I'm expecting a lot of missed shots and few free throws. Points will be hard to come by. It should be a close, low-scoring game.
The key for the Cavs will be to defend the 3-point shot effectively because the Clippers rank near the bottom in both points in the paint and 2-point shooting percentage. On offense the Cavs should put max pressure on the 31-year-old Jackson and really make him work on defense and wear him down after his 40 minutes yesterday. Garland and Goodwin should make him keep moving and fighting over screens non-stop.
The Clippers are very good defensively with all that length but they are an old team in some positions and they played a close game yesterday where they had to come from behind in the 4th quarter, so the Cavs should move the ball from sideline to sideline and make these guys chase a lot. They have three starters over 30 years old.
The Cavs should also bang the offensive glass as the Clips rank 30th in defensive rebounding.
The Clippers are 16-20 on the road. On top of that they played in Detroit yesterday afternoon, beating the Pistons 106-102. Starting point guard Reggie Jackson, age 31, played 40 minutes. Marcus Morris Sr, 32, led the way with 31 points in 35 minutes. Hopefully these older guys will be a little fatigued after all the heavy lifting yesterday.
Paul George is out this time around. The Clippers have a .500 record when he does not play. Kawhi Leonard has not played this season and Norman Powell is out.
For the Cavs, it’s not clear who will be available. CBSSports lists Rondo, LeVert, Markkanen, and Wade as “game time decisions”.
The Clippers are not very imposing offensively, ranking 24th in scoring. They are more of a 3-point shooting team, ranking 27th in points in the paint and 4th in 3-point percentage. They hoist 3’s at a league average rate, but make a high percentage. They are below average in turnover rate and near the bottom in offensive rebounding and free throw attempts. The only thing they’re good at offensively is 3-point percentage.
Defensively, they’re above average, ranking 11th in opponents’ points per game. They’re excellent at forcing missed shots, ranking 4th in effective field goal percentage. They’re equally strong defending 2’s and 3’s. Opponents avoid shooting 3’s against them. The Clippers lead the league in preventing free throws - they force misses without fouling. The Cavs are 2nd, so don’t expect to see a lot of foul shots. This game could go pretty fast.
The Clippers are average at blocks and steals, but where they are extremely weak is defensive rebounding where they are dead last. But the difference between the Clippers at a 74.6% rebound rate and the best team at 78.7% is only 4%, so it’s not that significant unless the game is very close.
The Clippers have a tall lineup. Center Ivica Zubac is 7’0”, 240 pounds. I’m sure he will try to muscle Mobley like Adebayo and Vucevic did the last two games. He’s not as much of a scorer, though, averaging 10.1 points.
Their other starters are 6’8”, 6’7”, 6’7”, and 6’2” so I can see why they defend 3’s well with all that length on the perimeter.
PG Reggie Jackson averages 17.1 points but only 4.8 assists per game. He shoots only 39.6% from the field. As mentioned earlier he played 40 minutes yesterday so his legs may be tired.
SF Marcus Morris Sr averages 15.8 points on 43.7% shooting, but he got 31 last night. PF Nick Batum, another veteran at age 33, doesn’t shoot much (8.3 ppg) but he’s hitting 40.3% from deep. SG Amir Coffey only averages 8.6 points but is hitting 37.6% on 3’s.
Luke Kennard is their sharpshooter off the bench, hitting 45.6% of his 3’s. The Cavs definitely need to hound him when he’s on the perimeter and keep switching to prevent good looks. Dylan Windler should try an emulate this smooth-stroking lefty in every way he can. They’re both about the same size.
Ex-Cav Isaiah Hartenstein averages 7.6 points in 17 minutes a game. He ranks very high among centers in both points per shot attempt and assists per usage rate. However, he commits a lot of turnovers with his aggressive passing.
This could be a low scoring game. The first game was 92-79 and Paul George played, not to mention Sexton, Allen, and Rubio. The Clippers rank 24th in scoring and they played last night. They don’t have a backup point guard - in the six minutes that Jackson sat yesterday they didn’t have a point guard on the floor. Meanwhile the Cavs are really struggling to score with Allen, Markkanen, and LeVert out.
So we have two good defenses, two teams that struggle to score, and the two fewest fouling teams in the league. I'm expecting a lot of missed shots and few free throws. Points will be hard to come by. It should be a close, low-scoring game.
The key for the Cavs will be to defend the 3-point shot effectively because the Clippers rank near the bottom in both points in the paint and 2-point shooting percentage. On offense the Cavs should put max pressure on the 31-year-old Jackson and really make him work on defense and wear him down after his 40 minutes yesterday. Garland and Goodwin should make him keep moving and fighting over screens non-stop.
The Clippers are very good defensively with all that length but they are an old team in some positions and they played a close game yesterday where they had to come from behind in the 4th quarter, so the Cavs should move the ball from sideline to sideline and make these guys chase a lot. They have three starters over 30 years old.
The Cavs should also bang the offensive glass as the Clips rank 30th in defensive rebounding.
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