New Orleans Pelicans vs Clippers Preview: The Future vs. The Present

New Orleans Pelicans vs. Los Angeles Clipper Preview: Key Matchups

Key Matchups

Playing against the Clippers will be a challenge for any team, they have two-way superstars at the top of the roster in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Behind those two the rest of the roster fits around them nearly perfectly and allows them to play many different styles.

Want a point guard who can and will guard anyone, Patrick Beverley is your guy. What about a scoring guard who can come off the bench and torch any defense in the league, hello Lou Williams welcome to the party. What about a rim-running center who’s gotten much better this season, Montrezl Harrell slides right in. What about a stretch four if you want to play small, new acquisition Marcus Morris drills it from deep and plays solid defense.

The matchups will be tough for New Orleans as Kawhi, George, or Beverley can guard the primary ball-handler and still have two more lockdown players to stick on other options. While Beverley isn’t tall in NBA terms, Kawhi and George are big wings with the speed and size to stick with anyone.

My thinking is that Beverley would stay with Jrue Holiday as the main point-of-attack defender. This allows George to match up against Ingram as the secondary playmaker and shot creator for New Orleans. With Beverley and George already lined up with their opposite, that leaves Kawhi to deal with Zion something we didn’t get to see in the three regular-season meetings between the teams.

Kawhi and Zion would be the faces smack in the middle of an NBA-themed fight card for this game. The storylines are easy to sell for any game played between these two, neither is very outspoken publicly choosing to let their game do the talking for them. Kawhi is the immovable object capable of stopping any player in his tracks against the unstoppable force that is Zion Williamson. His gravity so strong it’s drawn former Presidents to a small 9,000 person gym in rural North Carolina.

The center matchups between the teams aren’t nearly as interesting but offer a few different looks depending on the flow of the game. Derrick Favors would have the advantage over Montrezl Harrell in my eyes, Favors is bigger and has been in the league long enough to learn all the tricks of the trade. Harrell is much more mobile than Favors and that difference in athleticism could be trouble for the Pels big man, especially after he looked a step slow against Utah.

Jaxson Hayes offers New Orleans a more favorable matchup versus Harrell athletically but isn’t experienced enough to not fall for the moves Harrell possesses.

Going the other way the Pelicans will likely look to hide Ingram as much as possible so that he can handle more of the load offensively. This means he’ll stick with Beverley in the corner on defense leaving the heavy lifting to Jrue and Lonzo, the problem is both of them give up at least a few inches against either Kawhi or George.

You might be tempted to think that having Zion guard either Clippers star is the way to go but he simply hasn’t played enough NBA basketball to hang with those guys. They have more tricks in their bags than a young guy has ever seen and if Jimmy Butler couldn’t stop Kawhi I don’t think Zion will be able to at this point.

I think the New Orleans Pelicans will have their hands full in this game but it’s a very good opportunity to see how these young up-and-comers deal with the established stars in LA.