New Orleans Pelicans vs Clippers Preview: The Future vs. The Present
By Tim Burke
New Orleans Pelicans vs. Los Angeles Clipper Preview: Previous Matchups
Previous Matchups
These two teams have faced off three times already during the regular season, with two of the games being decided by five or fewer points and the other being a huge blowout for LA. How does each of those games inform us about this game?
Game 1 – 11/14/19, New Orleans 132 – Los Angeles 127
The first game between the Pels and Clips was missing a combined six players from both teams, Kawhi, Beverley, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Zion Williamson. The game featured Jrue Holiday in a duel against Paul George and Lou Williams. Jrue would get the better of both, leading the game with 36 points, three rebounds, seven assists, and six steals, three of those steals came in the closing minutes against George.
Those missing Pels resulted in the eighth different starting lineup for New Orleans in just 11 games. It’s no coincidence that the team struggled to get going in the early part of the season and they came into this game with a 2-8 record.
Next to Holiday, Derrick Favors provided some serious muscle in the paint for the New Orleans Pelicans with his first career 20 point/20 rebound game. Frank Jackson also provided some punch off the bench, chipping in 23 points of his own.
The Clippers got standout games from Lou Will and Rodney McGruder; the former had 31 points and nine assists while the latter had a season-high 20 points off the bench. Paul George did end up leading the team in scoring with 33 points but he also had five turnovers and five fouls in just 24 minutes.
Game 2 – 11/24/19, Los Angeles 134 – New Orleans 109
Just 10 days after the first meeting between these teams the Clippers blew out the Pels behind Harrell’s 34 points and 12 rebounds, which tied his career-high for points in a game. Not only did he put up numbers, but he did it efficiently, making 13 of his 18 field goals. To make it worse for New Orleans, Harrell came off the bench to do that kind of damage.
This game was over in a hurry as the Clippers scored 40 in the first quarter and 72 by the half. After that point it was just about maintaining the lead and getting the end of the bench guys some run.
The entire Clippers bench unit was especially strong in this one, as every player that got minutes off the bench had a positive net rating. McGruder and Jerome Robinson scored in the single digits but had net ratings of at least +26.
The New Orleans Pelicans had most of their roster for this game, but the two players that were missing are big pieces of Alvin Gentry’s puzzle, Josh Hart and Derrick Favors. The loss of Favors was especially important because it allowed Harrell to play in the paint against bigs that aren’t as skilled as Favors in rookie Jaxson Hayes and offense-first players Jahlil Okafor and Nicolo Melli.
Brandon Ingram had a nice game for the Pels putting up 24 points, eight rebounds, and five assists and was the only Pelican to score more than 20.
Game 3 – 1/18/20, Los Angeles 133 – New Orleans 130
The last game played between these teams was the best, New Orleans had a chance to tie it up at 133 with just seconds left on a J.J. Redick three-ball but the shot didn’t drop. To make it worse the Pels scored 80 points in the first half, which tied a franchise record but couldn’t hold on for the win.
The silver lining was that Holiday didn’t play in this one and Zion was just days away from making his debut. The minutes’ distribution for this game is very similar to what we could expect for the seeding games and any possible play-in or playoff games to come.
Ingram (21 points, seven rebounds, and six assists), Favors (22 points, 11 rebounds), and Redick (19 points, 3/6 on 3PA) all shined is this last matchup between the second seed in the Western Conference. Favors was a perfect 10-10 from the field as well.
But Lonzo Ball put it all together for this one with an 18 point, 10 rebound, 11 assist triple-double on this night, of note this was the only time that Lonzo was fully healthy when playing LA as he was just getting back from an injury in the first two games.
To be fair, not every Clipper was available for this game either, Paul George was unavailable for the fifth straight game, but that didn’t stop Kawhi and Lou Will from doing everything in their power to secure the win. Kawhi had a game-high 39 points to go along with six rebounds, six assists, and five steals and Lou Will scored 14 of his 32 in the second half.
This was a game of two halves for New Orleans, in the first (when they scored 80 points) they made 11 of 21 three-pointers and then went just 4/20 in the second half. Such is the case for a team that shoots the three-ball as often as the New Orleans Pelicans, some quarters everyone will shoot like J.J. Redick and others they’ll shoot like me (4/20 is way better than me).