Pelicans vs Clippers: A View From The Other Side

New Orleans travels to Los Angeles for a key Western Conference matchup.

Terry Kimble | Mar 25, 2023

Pelicans vs Clippers: A View From The Other Side /

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New Orleans Pelicans

NEW ORLEANS - Nine games remain in the regular season for the New Orleans Pelicans. Each game holds significant weight considering the jumbled Western Conference standings. The Pelicans embark on a four-game road trip that may make or break their playoff hopes.

First up is the Los Angeles Clippers, who are fighting for playoff positioning themselves. The Clippers have had a busy season with the acquisition of Russell Westbrook and the recent injury to Paul George.

Terry Kimble from the Pelicans Scoop Podcast recently sat down with ClipsNation writer Josh Sexton to discuss the Clippers' year, playoff aspirations, and the matchup with the Pelicans Saturday night.

Pelicans Scoop: The injury to Paul George is devastating, but not as serious as it looked initially. With him being evaluated again in the next 2-3 weeks, what are some keys for the Clippers to compensate for his loss?

Josh Sexton: We ended up with pretty much the best-case scenario given the nature of his fall, in that he hasn’t sustained any ligament damage. What PG brought to the court was elite two-way play and therefore it’s the other elite two-way player, Kawhi Leonard, who will have to step up the most to fill the burden on both ends.

However, the Clippers need to make sure they’re helping him as much as possible by getting guys on the court who can keep energy and momentum going, especially in the minutes he’s off the floor. Terance Mann will likely see his minutes increase and he’ll no doubt be a big contributor, while Bones Hyland did his chances no harm with a big performance against the OKC Thunder.

Pelicans Scoop: Russell Westbrook sometimes receives a lot of flack, whether justified or not. The one thing you cannot question is his effort on a nightly basis. What impact has he had on this Clippers team since joining?

Josh Sexton: The fit with Russ has been an interesting conundrum for the Clippers so far. One of the worries about the acquisition beforehand was that he has a lot of mistakes in his game, especially leading to costly turnovers, and that he’d impact Mann’s minutes. While both of those things have been true so far, he has brought a lot of energy and effort to a team that have lacked in both departments on the whole this season.

His poor shooting has seen teams leaving him open on the perimeter, but the coaching staff have looked to use that to their advantage by having him push the pace, get to the paint and make plays from inside the opponent’s defense, so look out for more of that on Saturday.

Mar 23, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Clippers guard Russell Westbrook (0) celebrates in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Pelicans Scoop: Kawhi Leonard has been on a tear in the month of March, averaging about 28 points a game and 7 rebounds. Does he look like he's back to his 2021 Playoff form when he was dominant before the injury?

Josh Sexton: Honestly, the Clippers are probably getting the best version of regular season Kawhi that the league has seen. He’s been way ahead of schedule in terms of recovering to the levels he was at before, but his unbelievable efficiency and ability to snatch the game away from an opponent at any given moment — be that with defensive or offensive plays — has been like nothing we’ve seen before.

Pelicans Scoop: Not including Russ, which one of the newly acquired players midseason do you think can make the biggest impact in the playoffs?

Josh Sexton: Given Russ’s tendency to suffer from lapses, the Clippers had been closing with Eric Gordon in his place before the PG injury. While Russ can bring the energy coming out of the gate to help the stars get going, Gordon provides great spacing, shooting and a higher level of defense to close games, while being able to play off ball and cede his touches to Kawhi and PG. His influence in that role will be huge come playoff time.

Pelicans Scoop: Aside from health, what is the biggest area of concern for the Clippers during this stretch run and into the playoffs?

Josh Sexton: The Clippers have really flattered to deceive across the season as a whole, considering how much of it they’ve had Kawhi and PG healthy and firing. If they don’t at least come close to their expectations this season, and put in the kind of performances we know they can, then the blame will no doubt fall to the coaching staff and head coach Tyronn Lue in particular.

Because part of the reason the team has underachieved has been a stubbornness to go away from things that clearly aren’t working, and refusing to give more time to rotations and players that have showed promise. Mann is evidence of that, but Robert Covington’s lack of playing time will go down as one of the biggest disappointments so far.

Pelicans Scoop: Give us one thing (matchup/lineup/stat etc...) we should be looking for in Saturday's game versus New Orleans.

Josh Sexton: It will be interesting to see who the Pelicans give the Kawhi assignment too, but a key battle on the floor for the Clippers will be between the centers. Jonas Valanciunas has already torched this team before, and we’ll need Ivica Zubac to be at his best to stop that being the case again — including going at him on the offensive end to take the wind out of his sails early.

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Published Mar 25, 2023

TERRY KIMBLE

Pelicans Scoop Writer