The Lakers and Clippers will play in the second game of Thursday’s “re-opening” night. However, both teams could be missing key players.
According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell are listed as out on the status report, while Patrick Beverley is considered questionable for the Clippers (Twitter link). For the Lakers, Anthony Davis is listed as questionable, while LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are listed as probable and should play.
With Williams in quarantine for 10 days, the Clippers are hoping Beverley, who just returned to the NBA’s Walt Disney Campus after being away for a personal matter, can step in.
Davis practiced on Wednesday with goggles on after being poked in the eye last week against the Magic. All signs point to the Lakers forward playing tomorrow night.
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Clippers head coach Doc Rivers spoke at length about how deep his team’s roster is despite missing multiple players, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “Well, a deep roster is built for that,” Rivers said. “And we’ve done that. Now, when you have five and six guys out at one time, that’s asking too much on any roster. By the time the [seeding] games start, we won’t have that many out, but we’ll have maybe two to three key guys out, and that’s asking a lot.” As previously noted, Los Angeles will be without Williams and Harrell on Thursday night. But Kawhi Leonard echoes the same sentiment of his head coach about the depth of the roster.“I knew that we had a pretty deep squad,” he said. “I knew how talented we could be. It’s about executing now.”
- With Eric Gordon being sidelined for two weeks with an ankle injury, Danuel House will be inserted into the Rockets’ starting lineup, per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). This season, House has started in 47 games for Houston, while averaging 10.2 PPG and 4.2 RPG. He is also shooting 36.3 percent from three-point range.
- Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts told reporters this week that he expects to have a full team available for Friday’s seeding game against the Grizzlies, per Jason Quick of The Athletic (Twitter link). Portland currently trails Memphis by 3.5 games for the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
Clippers deepest team in NBA. Only Bucks can stop them. But I don’t think so. Giannis would have to avg 30. For them to win. Clippers vs Lakers should be a lot of fun though.
Clipper vs. Lakers is far from being the foregone conclusion so many people seem to think it is. Both teams are missing players right now, and the West is ridiculously deep. A team like Portland or New Orleans could surprise people. Denver, Houston, Utah, or OKC could easily knock off one of the LA teams as well.
BTW have you noticed that Giannis already is averaging 30PPG, is just his usual, nothing special for him.
This years finals will be MIL vs LAL. A deep team is very important in the RS… but in the playoffs star power counts for more as rotations are shorter, AD & LBJ are light years better than PG13 & Kawhi or Harden & Westbrook, that is why they are the clear favorites for the finals from the west.
Giannis won’t avg 30 against Clippers. Giannis as great as he is. Is easier to defend. Than AD, Bron, Kawhi, PG. Just so you know Giannis avg 23 a gm in playoffs. Never even been to East finals. Playoffs are more like old school NBA. The all stars become players. And only the real superstar (singular)will step up. Giannis is just arriving lol.
West I don’t believe is deep. Besides LA teams. Only a healthy Denver has a shot. Being healthy is key for all teams. Clippers have more seasoned vets than any team. Plus none have won before. Kawhi n PG want nothing more than to be Kings of LA. Nobody is beating Clippers. Unless Giannis becomes a playoff superstar.
I know it’s a stretch but maybe the Clippers are trying to line themselves up as the Third seed in the West.
Currently that would mean instead of playing the Mavs they play the Rockets. Now I know both are tough games but the Clippers line up a lot better with the Rockets. Kawhi PG13 and Beverly can lock down the perimeter (Russ and Harden) and then have their preferred bigs Morris and Harrell against Covington and Tucker. I feel that’s what the Clippers game plan must be.
The Mavs obviously have Porzingis who would be a tough match up for the Clippers. Porzingis is 7’3 and Harrell is 6’7 so I mean he would almost have a 1 foot advantage plus he can shoot the three and dribble. Harden and Russ aint easy of course but I think Kawhi can lock up Harden leaving PG and Beverly on Russ and we all know about the Russ and Beverly beef.
Especially a Rockets team with Eric Gordon injured too. Clippers have great depth with Reggie Jackson Lou Williams and so on
And obviously the Rockets have no one who can cover George and Kawhi, right? Except of course for PJ Tucker and Covington, two of the most underrated defenders in the NBA. And let’s not forget the fact that Doncic and Kristaps have zero playoff experience, so no one should expect the Mavs to get out of the first round.
It’s hilarious how so many people thought the Rockets would end up either in the 6th or 7th seed in the West. They will easily get one of the top 4 spots.