NBA Matchups: January 31

LAC @ CHA | DAL @ DET | DEN @ PHI | CHI @ TOR | BOS @ NOP | MIL @ SAS | PHX @ GSW

L.A. Clippers at Charlotte Hornets (front end)

Team Totals: Clippers 113, Hornets 98.5

Injury Report: LaMelo Ball (O, ankle), Cody Martin (O, hernia), Mark Williams (O, foot), Kris Dunn (O, knee)

Clippers projected starters: James Harden, Norman Powell, Derrick Jones Jr., Kawhi Leonard, Ivica Zubac

Hornets projected starters: Vasa Micic, Nick Smith Jr., Josh Green, Miles Bridges, Taj Gibson

Lue quotes: Said they fought through it after the Spurs made a big run, said it was huge for Kawhi to finish the game, said he took Kawhi out earlier in the fourth because he wanted him to close, said rebounding is a huge part of their plan, said they are challenging Zu to hit the glass more, said Kawhi “had a lot of pop” and they’re a different team when he looks like that, said Kawhi’s movement is back but he’s not all the way back on conditioning.

Lee quotes: Said the team could’ve been better on defense because they gave up too many free throws, said Micic is a fighter and it showed that he’s a fighter, said he’s happy they have Micic on their side, said K.J. Simpson impacted the game without scoring, said they need to get better on the ball, said he hopes LaMelo news could be the best case of just a week.

Stats and Notes: 

*The Clippers are playing fantastic basketball right now, and it’s been their offense lately that has carried them in their last two wins. It’s not a surprise that Kawhi Leonard has helped with Kawhi posting a 123.0 O rating, which is by far the team leader (Powell 115.5, Zubac 113.3). The Hornets are playing better defensively and are still third in defensive rating since Christmas. I’d still expect the Clippers to put up numbers there. For the Hornets on offense, it’s just a lost cause without LaMelo Ball. As noted on Wednesday, the Hornets just can’t score points without LaMelo. The Clippers are an elite defense and are now the league’s second-best rim defense, and they just don’t get beat on the boards. Los Angeles is giving up more C&S stuff these days and they’re a top-10 transition defense. I doubt the Hornets score 100 here, but maybe they can break 90.

*James Harden has been living on some really soft matchups these days as he’s run into some heavy on-ball funnels, but this time it gets a little tougher, as the Hornets aren’t too bad at limiting lead handlers with Josh Green set to guard him. Harden’s usage continues to hold up just fine with Kawhi in the mix, and I’d expect Harden to be more of a passer in this spot.

*This should be a fantastic spot for Ivica Zubac. After what should’ve been one of the toughest spots against Victor Wembanyama, he gets a complete nut matchup against Mark Williams. As great as Mark has been (and we’ll get to that in a second), the opposing centers are just piling up stats against him. Plus, Ty Lue has been on Zu to hit the boards, and he’s clearly over the blurry vision issue that cost him time last week. This man just dropped a 20/20 game. He doesn’t have vision problems. 

*Norman Powell is so matchup-proof and he’s just a bucket against almost any defense. The Hornets are not a huge 3-point funnel, but Norm is going to get a very soft 1-on-1 matchup with Nick Smith Jr. on him. There are just a lot of blowout concerns on him.

*Kawhi Leonard is playing into the fourth quarter and he’s starting to pop on the screen with his play. Kawhi has 13 points in transition in his last two games after putting up just 19 points in transition combined before his last two. This is going to be a blowout, so I would expect the Clippers to cut his minutes a little here.

*Yeah, I don’t know how the Hornets score 100 in this spot. We saw basically this same group on Wednesday and they scored 83. Miles Bridges had a large handling role with 4.2 minutes of touch time and 17 drives. He gets a really bad matchup against Derrick Jones Jr., but at least the role is there.

*Moussa Diabate gets a revenge game, but I just have no faith in this team to score.

Great matchups: Ivica Zubac, Norman Powell

Good matchups: Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Derrick Jones Jr.

Bad matchups: The Hornets

Dallas Mavericks at Detroit Pistons