2015-16 NBA Regular Season | ||
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December 12, 2015 — 2:00 PM PT | ||
Barclays Center (Brooklyn, New York) | ||
Prime Ticket, YES, The Beast 980 AM, KWKW 1330 AM | ||
Projected Starters | ||
Chris Paul | PG | Jarrett Jack |
J.J. Redick | SG | Bojan Bogdanovic |
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute | SF | Joe Johnson |
Blake Griffin | PF | Thaddeus Young |
DeAndre Jordan | C | Brook Lopez |
Efficiency Stats ('15-'16) | ||
99.27 (12th) | Pace | 98.76 (16th) |
103.7 (7th) | OffRtg | 97.3 (28th) |
101.0 (14th) | DefRtg | 103.0 (19th) |
+2.6 (10th) | NetRtg | -5.7 (25th) |
Injury Report | ||
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Out) Ankle | ||
Chris McCullough (Out) Knee | ||
Andrea Bargnani (Questionable) Hamstring |
The Los Angeles Clippers are coming off of a tough three-point loss to the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night. Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Nets have won two in a row – granted the last one came against the terrible Philadelphia 76ers. The Nets upended the Clippers at the buzzer last season when the two met at Barclays Center. It was an improbable comeback for Brooklyn, a sad collapse for the Clippers, and a huge shot by Jarrett Jack. Clippers have to avoid a similar fate this time around.
Brook Lopez leads the Nets in scoring, averaging 19.6 points per game on 48.6 percent shooting. He’s always a tough cover considering his vast array of post moves, as well as a deadly mid-range jumper (47.5 percent on 16-to-24 foot shots this season). DeAndre Jordan will have to be on his A-game to stop Lopez. Thaddeus Young averages 16.2 points on 52.8 percent shooting, but he’s not a threat outside of the arc. He has his own arsenal of crafty shots and mid-range jumpers that the Clippers will have to honor.
The Nets are a poor offensive team, which isn’t shocking considering the lack of floor spacing that is going on there, but they can get key shots from several players. Joe Johnson is still there to provide some veteran shot-making ability, and Jack is more than capable of his own heroics. After playing a bad offensive team on Thursday night, the Clippers get another one in this game. Hopefully it goes a lot better than it did against the Bulls, though.
Blake Griffin still leads the Clippers in scoring, and that’s not a shocker considering how good he is. His ejection against the Bulls was something people have been talking about for the last couple days, but what’s done is done. Griffin’s been struggling with his jumper lately, but the red-headed freckle-faced jumping jack will be needed to dust off the Superman cape once again if the Clippers are to win this game.
Chris Paul’s still struggling with his own issues, but the Point God is capable of having an awesome performance whenever the team needs it. His miscues at the end of last game have been beaten over the head, but let’s not overlook his key shots earlier in the fourth quarter to help keep the Clippers close. He’s still the second best player on the team, and they’ll need him to play like it.
Fun FactJay-Z is no longer an NBA owner, but he’ll always be one of the best parts about Brooklyn Nets games. Hova had to sell his minority ownership stake in the Nets in order to pursue NBA certification so that he could become an agent. On the bright side, at least the world still has Beyonce.