The Sixers return from a 3-game road trip out west to face … a Western Conference team, one that they would probably rather not see. The Clippers have had Philly's number in recent years, having won the last 6 games games, most by double digits. So much for the comforts of home.
The Clippers also have in the pivot the leagues leading rebounder in DeAndre Jordan. The boarding and dunking machine is grabbing 14.8 rebounds a night and also leads the league with 216 dunks, over 50 ahead of Tyson Chandler in second place. Once upon a time, I got in an argument with my friend about how I thought DeAndre Jordan was Sammy Dalembert with a slightly higher ceiling. I may have been wrong.
Given the above, this should be a nice measuring stick game for Nerlens. One would thing DeAndre would basically use Nerlens to pick the food out of his teeth tonight, but then one would be overlooking Nerlens's recent surge. I've been particularly impressed with Nerlens rebounds of late. Early in the season, it just seemed like he was out of position all the time for boards, either boxed out by a stronger big man or generally just in the wrong place. He only logged double-digit boards 11 times in his 49 games (22%) before the All-Star break. Since then however, Nerlens has grabbed 10 or more boards in 53% of his games, a huge improvement. How well he will be able to grab boards away from DeAndre, let alone front him and keep him from rolling through the lane for alley oops, should be a nice plot line tonight and something to pay attention to.
Game Notes:
- Bobby Buckets has been on fire in the last 2 games from downtown. He's dropped 11 of 17 shots from beyond the arc in his last two, breaking out of a mini slump where he had shot 6-24 in the 5 game preceding them.
- The Sixers seem to have rebounded from that slight dip in defense after the MCW trade, and have officially taken over 10th place in the league in defensive efficiency (h/t @MaxRappaport)
- With the rise of Ish Smith, Isiaah Canaan has seen his minutes dip from 30 per game in his first 9 with the Sixers to about 24 a night, and he isn't even sniffing starting at this point. His size advantage over Ish could come in to play tonight against CP3. At this point though, if you had to pick one of the two, you'd probably have to go Ish.
Projected Lineups:
Sixers
PG Ish Smith
SG Jason Richardson
SF JaKarr Sampson
PF Luc Mbah a Moute
C Nerlens Noel
Clippers
PG Chris Paul
SG JJ Redick
SF Matt Barnes
PF Blake Griffin
C DeAndre Jordan
Injuries: Sixers: Joel Embiid (Out, Foot), Tony Wroten (Out, right knee).
Clippers: Jamal Crawford (Out, Calf).
Prediction: Unless the Clips sleep walk into this game, this should be a lopsided affair. Clippers win it going away, 126-101.
