Rejuvenated LA Clippers get their shot at Portland to begin homestand

The LA Clippers have played just two games at home this month, and after a disappointing road trip, they’ll return to their home court to host Portland.

The Los Angeles Clippers have had a difficult start to the month of December, to say the least, going just 2-6 and dropping down to the Western Conference’s fifth seed. Each loss was seemingly worse than the last, until LA put forth a strong effort in a close loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday.

Now, the LA Clippers will finally return home for what is their third home game of the month, this time against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Losers of six of their last 10, Portland comes into Los Angeles fresh off a victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday. Damian Lillard led the way for the Trail Blazers, scoring a team-high 24 points. He was the team’s top scorer in his last meeting with the Clippers as well, going for 30 points on 27 shots on November 25.

Regardless of Portland’s recent record, the Clippers will need to play their best basketball in order to secure their 10th victory at home. And with the way the team has looked lately, that may be a tall order.

Save for Saturday’s performance against OKC, the Clippers have looked like a completely different team lately than the one we saw begin the season with a 16-7 record. In fact, with blowout losses to the Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs, they’re almost completely unrecognizable. The level of effort displayed has been questionable at best, possessions are becoming forced, and the team has been downright sloppy. If it wasn’t for the Clippers committing a season-high 26 turnovers against the Thunder over the weekend, they likely would’ve strolled out of there with a big win in the books. Instead, LA ended their road trip with a third consecutive loss, the longest such streak of the season.

To avoid bringing that number up to four, the Clippers must play a more efficient style of offense, similar to the one they played in their last outing against the Blazers in which they recorded a season-low (and franchise-low) four turnovers.

Tobias Harris and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have both been solid in regards to limiting turnovers this season, and we should expect the same from the duo tonight. Look for Harris to score as well, as he logged a career-high 34 points in his last meeting with Portland.

With a win tonight, the Clippers would remain tied for the fourth seed with the Los Angeles Lakers. However, a loss would drop them down to the sixth seed.

The Clippers and Trail Blazers will tip-off at 7:30 PM PST at STAPLES Center.