LA Clippers Look To Right The Ship Against Cavs
By Brian Cullen
After a loss in Denver, the LA Clippers return home to host the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the midst of a string of bizarre, underwhelming performances the Clippers hope to bounce back to form.
The LA Clippers took another loss Sunday evening against the Denver Nuggets. That puts their record at 4-3 since Christmas day- a lot closer to a .500 record in that span than most expected, especially considering some of the opponents they’ve seen in that stretch.
The team appears to be in a lull at the moment leading to questions about effort, team chemistry, and possible trade scenarios. An easy way to shake off the criticism is rattling off several wins, and there couldn’t be an easier start to that than against Cleveland.
There aren’t many on-court matchups between the Cavs and Clippers that don’t teeter in LA’s favor. Despite being one of the best rebounding teams in the league, size or a lack thereof continues to be a point of focus for the Clippers. That could become an issue against a team that has two quality veteran bigs in Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson. They’ll look to keep an elite rebounder in Thompson off the boards to avoid any second chance opportunities.
Defensively, the Clippers are on pace for having their worst month of the season. So far in January, they are letting opponents score 119 points per game at 47% shooting from the field and 35% shooting from deep. The defensive switches have looked lazy at times allowing opposing wings to get open looks from three. While Cleveland ranks 24th in offensive rating they are not a team the Clippers want to let get comfortable shooting.
The Cavs are a team in the midst of a rebuild which means they’re a combination of young, green talent, and a couple of savvy veteran players. These are the types of teams that catch other, better teams off guard with their ability to run the floor, and still have a piece or two capable of making smart plays.
As a team, Cleveland is in the bottom half of the league in just about every statistical category, except personal fouls. They commit the least amount of fouls per game than any other team. That probably speaks to their defense which is the second-worst in the association.
Cleveland is coming off the second night of a back-to-back against the Lakers. The advantage in rest is with the Clippers, but it was the same scenario against Denver, and the Nuggets looked like the more energized team. The Cavs also beat the Nuggets on the first night of Denver’s set of games.
One of the biggest threats the Cavaliers have in their arsenal is forward Kevin Love. Not because of his tenure in the league, or even his championship experience. He wants to be traded. The Clippers have shown recently that they can get killed by the guys putting on an audition for the league to get a new home. CC: Marcus Morris and Jae Crowder.
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A dominating, inspiring performance at home against a sub .500 team would be a given for most teams aspiring to win a championship, but for the Clippers, it feels like the pressure is on to do it. A big win might spark some energy not only for the team but for the fans as well. A loss could have fans, and possibly even the team themselves running to ring the alarm bells.