When: February 29, 2016; 10:30 PM EST
Where: Staples Center; Los Angeles, CA
TV: YES Network
Radio: WFAN 660 AM
As I wrote earlier today, the Nets have won three of their last five games and have been a brand new team since the All-Star break. Of course, that has coincided with their hiring of Sean Marks as general manager and the buyouts of Andrea Bargnani and Joe Johnson. Tonight, Brooklyn tries to keep the good times going in the third game of its long road trip in Los Angeles against the Clippers.
Ironically, the Nets — for draft pick purposes — want the Clippers to be one of the NBA’s top-five teams come season’s end, so there are some interesting and contradicting motivations in this game. Owing to the Reggie Evans trade from a few years ago, the Clippers have the right to swap their second round pick in this June’s draft with that of the Nets’. Obviously, Brooklyn’s pick is going to be a better one than Los Angeles’, but if the Clippers’ pick is between No. 56 and No. 60 overall, the swap requirement on the Nets’ part is extinguished.
That might not be much of a concern on Monday night as the Clippers are one of the Western Conference’s better teams, even without Blake Griffin, who hasn’t played since Christmas. Originally, the forward was out due to a quadriceps injury but has been sidelined for an even longer time due to a broken hand suffered in a fight with the Clippers’ equipment manager on January 23. Doc Rivers’ team has struggled as of late — going just 3-3 in its past six games — but has been able to play well even without Griffin and is just 2.5 games behind the Thunder for the No. 3 seed in the West.
Anyway, the Nets — back in December — stayed right with the Clippers until the end of regulation, falling 105-100 at Barclays. In the last few seasons, Brooklyn has fared decently well against LA and has won at least one half of the series in each year going back to the 2007-08 campaign.
Probable lineups
BKN- Donald Sloan (PG), Markel Brown (SG), Wayne Ellington (SF), Thaddeus Young (PF), Brook Lopez (C)
LAC- Chris Paul (PG), J.J. Redick (SG), Luc Mbah a Moute (SF), Jeff Green (PF), DeAndre Jordan (C)
Final thoughts
Where the Nets have a real disadvantage against the Clippers is in the backcourt, as Donald Sloan and Markel Brown will be asked to check Chris Paul and J.J. Redick. Those could be horrific matchups for Brooklyn, as Paul’s craftiness as a scorer and passer is something that the relatively slow-footed Sloan likely will have trouble with and Redick is shooting a career-high 48 percent from deep this year. If this game gets away from the Nets, it’ll likely start at point and shooting guard.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
