LA Clippers vs Nets Preview: A Battle of Two Underdogs

The LA Clippers will be facing off tonight against the Brooklyn Nets at home in Staples Center. This matchup will pitch two surprisingly successful teams this season against each other.

These two teams are quintessential examples of hard-nosed, fiery teams. Each team lacks a traditional “superstar”. Each team has a fantastic bench. The LA Clippers and Nets benches are first (53.1 ppg) and second (47.6 ppg) in the league in scoring, respectively.

The Clippers currently sit in the 8th seed in the Western Conference, half a game behind the seventh seed, and one game behind the sixth. The Clippers must pick up tonight’s game if they wish to keep pace in the Western Conference playoff seeding.

The Brooklyn Nets have been a surprisingly successful team this season, as they currently hold the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. They were much worse last season, finishing the year with a 28-54 record.

The Nets are a losing team on the road, possessing a record of (15-19) while away from Brooklyn. The Clippers are seeking their 8th straight win at home and will look to utilize their home-court advantage.

The Clippers possess the rest advantage coming into tonight’s matchup. LA last played Friday night in a hard-earned victory over the Bulls. Brooklyn played last night against the Jazz and suffered a numbing 16-point loss (114-98).

At the center position, a battle of traditional big men will take place tonight. LA’s Ivica Zubac and Brooklyn’s Jarrett Allen are two young, promising throwback centers. Allen, a Texas Longhorn like myself, has been averaging a solid 11.1 points and 8.4 rebounds in 26.6 minutes per game. Zubac needs to stay aggressive against Allen, otherwise, the Texas product might run the paint all night against our center.

The Clippers are a quicker team than the Nets this season. LA’s pace is at 101.5 whereas Brooklyn sits slightly slower at 100.4, per Basketball-Reference. Los Angeles will need to outpace and out-hustle the Nets tonight. Brooklyn is a team hungry to prove themselves, much like LA is doing.

The Nets have the league’s best 3-point shooter in Joe Harris. Harris won the 3-Point Shooting Contest during All-Star Weekend this year, beating Steph Curry by one point in the final round. Harris has been shooting 46.2% from the field this season, jacking up 5 attempts per game.

Additionally, the Nets are a high-volume 3-point shooting team. They are third in the league in 3-point attempts, per the Locked On Clippers podcast. While they shoot massive amounts of threes, 35 per game, they are just average in completing those shots: 14th in the league in 3-point percentage. The Clippers need to lock down the perimeter and avoid getting into a shootout with the Nets.

In the previous matchup this season between these two teams (Nov. 17), the Clippers came back from a 15-point deficit to win 127-119 in Brooklyn. The Clippers need to sweep the Nets this season and move on to what’s next for LA in the Western Conference playoff seeding battle.

Finally, should the Clippers win tonight’s game, this would be head coach Doc Rivers’ 300th career win with the team. Only 6 coaches have accomplished this feat coaching two NBA teams, per Mirjam Swanson.

Follow @ClipperholicsFS on Twitter for updates throughout tonight’s exciting matchup!