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Poll: Lakers Vs. Clippers

July 31st, 2020 at 11:53am CST by Luke Adams

Following Thursday’s game at the NBA campus in Orlando, the Lakers and Clippers have now faced each other four times this season, with each team winning a pair of those games.

Los Angeles’ teams are widely viewed as the top two contenders to make it out of the Western Conference and compete in the NBA Finals this fall. While a challenger like the Nuggets, Jazz, or Rockets could break up the all-L.A. party, the Lakers and Clippers are on track to play on opposite sides of the West bracket in the postseason, putting them on a collision course to meet in the Western Finals.

Assuming the two L.A. teams do meet again in the playoffs and we haven’t seen the last of the LeBron James/Anthony Davis vs. Kawhi Leonard/Paul George showdowns of the 2019/20 season, we want to know what you expect to happen in a best-of-seven series between the Lakers and Clippers.

The Lakers had the last word on Thursday night, as a last-minute LeBron put-back proved to be the game-winner in a 103-101 victory. But the Clippers were missing key players like Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. The Clips were +16 in minutes that Leonard played, and having second-unit standouts like Williams and Harrell available could have made those non-Kawhi minutes more manageable.

On the other hand, it’s not like we saw the Lakers at their best either. James and Davis combined to go 14-of-38 from the field, showing some rust after not playing real games in over four-and-a-half months. The club is also still experimenting with its summer rotation and will likely continue to do so until everyone – including the players who arrived in Orlando late – is up to full speed.

Another point worth considering: The Lakers have all but clinched the No. 1 seed, but their lack of home court advantage over the Clippers at Walt Disney World may be even more meaningful in an all-L.A. series than it would be in other series — if every game were played at Staples Center, the Lakers might end up with a de facto home court advantage for the entire series, as their fans often show up en masse at Clippers “home” games. That won’t happen on a neutral court in Orlando.

What do you think? After watching the Lakers and Clippers face each other four times this season, which team would you pick to win a seven-game postseason series? Do you fully expect the two L.A. teams to meet again in the playoffs, or will one of them falter before the Western Finals?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!

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Rivers, Clippers Teammates Have Lou Williams' Back

July 30th, 2020 at 11:37am CST by Luke Adams

Lou Williams‘ violation of the NBA’s protocols means he’s serving a 10-day quarantine and missing at least two seeding games, but his Clippers teammates and head coach Doc Rivers have Williams’ back, as Mark Medina of USA Today writes. “Lou’s one of the most-liked guys in the whole organization and is always trying to get everyone together on the road,” center Ivica Zubac said. “Lou is a true leader. The fact that everyone is coming to the defense of him speaks everything about him.”

Williams, Harrell Out Against Lakers, Beverley Listed As Probable

July 29th, 2020 at 9:25pm CST by Jovan Alford

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.

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.”

Zubac Participates In Final Scrimmage

July 27th, 2020 at 8:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Center Ivica Zubac, who has recovered from COVID-19, played 13 minutes in the Clippers’ third Orlando scrimmage on Monday and appears ready for the league restart, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times writes. Zubac, who signed a four-year, $28.5MM contract last summer, contributed two points and six rebounds during his short stint.

“I don’t care how much you work out, a basketball game, an NBA basketball game is different and so you get winded,” Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said. “But I thought he did what Zub does, he clogged up the paint, he rolled for us, he did a lot of good things.”

Patrick Beverley Returns To NBA Campus

July 26th, 2020 at 7:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Another Clippers player has returned to the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that veteran guard Patrick Beverley is back in Orlando after leaving for an emergency personal matter on Tuesday.

As of Friday, Beverley, Lou Williams, and Montrezl Harrell were all away the Disney campus for personal matters, while Ivica Zubac and Landry Shamet still hadn’t reported. However, Zubac and Shamet were said to be arriving this weekend, and Williams returned on Saturday as well. Once Harrell gets back to Disney and everyone clears quarantine, the Clippers should be at full strength.

Williams will be subject to a 10-day quarantine period after the NBA reviewed his activities while away from the campus. However, there’s no indication at this point that Beverley will have to remain quarantined for longer than the four-day minimum required for any player who leaves Orlando. We’ll provide an update if that changes.

It remains to be seen whether Beverley will be available for the Clippers’ first seeding game on Thursday night against the Lakers. Even if he clears quarantine before that game tips off, it will be well over a week since he has practiced, so the club may play it safe with one of its key backcourt contributors.

Lou Williams Must Quarantine For 10 Days

July 26th, 2020 at 9:58am CST by Arthur Hill

Lou Williams will be required to go through a 10-day quarantine after visiting a strip club during his absence from the Walt Disney World campus, according to Sam Amick, Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic. He will miss the Clippers‘ first two seeding games against the Lakers on Thursday and the Pelicans on Saturday.

More details have emerged about Williams’ trip to Magic City in Atlanta during an excused absence to attend a funeral. Sources tell the authors that Williams was part of a group, including rapper Jack Harlow, that went to the club for dinner Thursday after the funeral viewing. They didn’t stay long, sources add, and were there mainly for the food.

“Ask any of my teammates what’s my favorite restaurant in Atlanta,” Williams tweeted Saturday night. “Ain’t nobody partying. Chill out lol #Maskon #inandout.” He later added, “Magic City is my favorite restaurant in the world.”

The funeral for Williams’ friend took place Friday and he returned to the WDW campus Saturday.

Williams’ situation is one of many for the short-handed Clippers, who are just four days away from their opening game. Ivica Zubac is in quarantine after joining the team Friday, and Landry Shamet is reportedly headed to Orlando after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this month. Patrick Beverley and Montrezl Harrell are both away from the team on excused absences.

Asked Saturday about whether he expected a full roster for Thursday’s game, coach Doc Rivers responded, “My guess is I would doubt it.”

NBA Investigating Why Lou Williams Left Orlando

July 25th, 2020 at 6:13pm CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA is investigating what Clippers guard Lou Williams did during his absence from Orlando to determine how long he will be required to quarantine, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne tweets that pictures emerged of Williams at an Atlanta gentleman’s club Thursday night alongside rapper Jack Harlow, who later deleted the post from Instagram. Harlow claimed Friday that Williams wasn’t at the club, tweeting, “That was an old pic of me and Lou. I was just reminiscing cuz I miss him.”

Sources tell Shelburne that NBA security interviewed Williams, who admitted briefly being at the Magic City gentleman’s club on Thursday (Twitter link).

Williams received permission to leave Walt Disney World this week, making him the third Clipper in the past few days to exit the campus environment to attend to personal matters. Coach Doc Rivers confirmed that Williams returned today, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link).

Williams will be required to quarantine for four days if he maintained negative test results over each of the past seven days. However, a longer quarantine could be imposed, depending on the results of the league investigation. The Clippers will begin their seeding games Thursday against the Lakers.

“I can’t share much with his journey (since leaving Orlando), I wasn’t on that journey with him,” Rivers told reporters (Twitter link). “But he’s back here, I can tell you that much. Those (pictures) got out and that’s something that we obviously didn’t enjoy seeing or like.”

If Williams’ quarantine is extended to 10 days, he will miss two seeding games and would forfeit up to $150K in salary, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).

Ivica Zubac In Quarantine After Joining Clippers

July 25th, 2020 at 4:32pm CST by Arthur Hill

Anthony Davis is considered day-to-day after being poked in the right eye during today’s scrimmage, Lakers coach Frank Vogel tells Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). L.A. has one more scrimmage Monday before starting its seeding games Thursday against the Clippers.
Clippers center Ivica Zubac reported to Orlando Friday night and is being quarantined for two days, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Lou Williams Temporarily Leaves NBA Campus

July 24th, 2020 at 11:39am CST by Luke Adams

A third Clippers player has left the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link), who hears that Lou Williams has been excused for personal reasons and is expected to return soon.

Williams joins Montrezl Harrell and Patrick Beverley as Clippers players who have left the Disney campus to attend to personal matters within the last few days.

While it seems likely that those three players will all return well before the postseason begins in mid-August, the Clippers could have another absence to prepare for down the road. According to Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link), forward Marcus Morris said today that he has a son due in September and plans to be there for the birth.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said.

Depending on when exactly Morris leaves and how the Clippers fare in the playoffs, he could end up missing a portion of the Western Conference Semifinals or Western Finals.

Players who leave the NBA’s campus with team and/or league approval must quarantine for four days upon returning, as long as they return negative coronavirus tests every day they’re away (or for each of their last seven days away, if they’re gone for more than a week). Failing to take those tests on a daily basis would result in a quarantine period of up to 10-14 days — obviously, a positive COVID-19 test would result in a longer absence.

Clippers' Arena Plan Clears Key Hurdle

July 22nd, 2020 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers‘ proposed Inglewood arena took an important step forward on Tuesday, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN, who writes that the Inglewood City Council unanimously approved the environmental impact report for the building.

As Youngmisuk details, the Clippers intend to build a “sprawling campus” that will include an outdoor plaza, as well as the club’s corporate offices and practice facility. Barring any setbacks, the plan is for construction to begin in the summer of 2021 and for the team to begin playing in the new arena at the start of the 2024/25 season, after the Clippers’ Staples Center lease expires.