Monday, November 18th – vs. Oklahoma City
In this home game, the Clippers will be facing their former leaders, Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. It will be strange to see both Shai and CP3 in an OKC jersey for the fans of both teams. Shortly after OKC acquired Paul, it was reported that they did not plan for him to play a single game and were exploring trade options. Once it was clear that no one wanted to pick up the massive contract that he originally signed with the Rockets, they both became comfortable with the idea of him starting for the Thunder this season. This seems very convenient.
I believe that the Thunder will be almost as good of a team as they were last season, finishing with a positive record and make a playoff push. Russell Westbrook and Paul George are both gone, but Chris Paul can run all the pick and roll plays he wants with Steven Adams, Danilo Gallinari, and others. This match will still require a solid effort from the Clippers but I believe that they will win.
Wednesday, November 20th – vs. Boston
The Clippers are in Boston for this battle against a much different-looking Celtics team. Boston replaced Kyrie Irving with Kemba Walker in the offseason, a move that rid the Celtics and Irving of some unneeded drama. Walker now gets to lead a team that is much more capable of making the playoffs than his former one.
Boston also signed Enes Kanter to make up for Al Horford‘s departure. Kanter is not an upgrade by any means, but he can still hold down the starting center position unless the Celtics decide to get more use out of their undrafted 7’7″ rookie, Tacko Fall. Other notable faces on the Celtics include Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
The Clippers will have to pay close attention to how quick this Celtics team has the capability to be, but they will likely not be as strong of a team as last season. For that reason, I have the Clippers leaving TD Garden with the win.