Tag: Angeles

As they get ready to face the Los Angeles Clippers tonight, the Portland Trail Blazers are riding high not on the feeling of winning, but the feeling of hope for the future.

A pair of second-year Blazers – Scoot Henderson and Toumani Camara – are coming off career-highs in their recent loss to the Brooklyn Nets, and the 39 points Henderson scored was among the most points ever scored by an NBA player 20 years old or younger, joining the likes of Blazers legend Cliff Robinson, LeBron, Luka, and Wemby, among a handful of others.

Portland Trail Blazers (13-26) vs. Los Angeles Clippers (22-17) – Thu. Jan. 16 – 7pm Pacific

How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network

How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; NBA TV elsewhere (also available on streaming via NBA TV on League Pass)

Trail Blazers injuries: Deni Avdija (day-to-day); Donovan Clingan, Robert Williams III, Jerami Grant, Matisse Thybulle (out).

Clippers injuries: Terance Mann (day-to-day); PJ Tucker, Kawhi Leonard (out).

UPDATE:

Per our own Conor Bergin, Deni Avdija has been confirmed as out for this game but Robert Williams III is available to play.

For Los Angeles, this game comes amidst the devasting wildfires in the state that have cancelled and forced rescheduling of several contests. Basketball aside, our thoughts are with folks who have been impacted, and we hope for a quick and as close to a complete return to normal for as possible.

Matching up against the Clippers, the Blazers will be without Donovan Clingan and potentially Deni Avdija, both dealing with ankle injuries, as well as Robert Williams III and Jerami Grant. Despite missing Kawhi Leonard – who has started slow after taking off almost the entire season thus far, but had his best game with a 23-point performance in a FIFTY NINE-point romp of the Nets – the Clippers are a formidable matchup on any given night as James Harden has settled into his role and former Blazers Norman Powell is putting up the season of his career… and even garnering some light All-Star buzz.

Using the transitive property, the Blazers’ 18-point loss to the Nets combined with Brooklyn’s 59-point loss to the Clippers means the Blazers… *does math* … will lose by about 80 points tonight, so be sure to slam those unders!

About the Opponent:

Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times wrote about how the Clippers are deploying Kawhi Leonard, who will sit against Portland after the Clippers’ historically lopsided win against the Nets:

With Leonard playing in just his fourth game of the season, the Clippers will be cautious with their star over this stretch. In fact, Lue said the medical staff will put together a plan to use as a guide. Part of that is not having Leonard play Thursday at Portland. “We’ve played, I think, pretty much the top-two hardest schedule in the league so far this year. It just adds to it,” Lue said. “So, we just got to take it game by game. Can’t fall victim to the schedule. It’s out of the NBA’s hands what happened to our city and so we understand that. So, we just got to lock in.” When asked what he’s evaluating about his game and the steps he’s taking, Leonard said, “My movements. Like I said, just seeing how I move, if I’m able to still slide or get to do certain things,” Leonard said. “Yeah, that’s how I’m assessing it.”

Ray Ratto of Defector gives us more about the must-not-see-TV that was Clippers/Nets:

The game nobody wanted was also one very few people wanted to attend. The announced attendance of 13,091 was the Clippers’ lowest in a non-COVID season in 14 years, and the previous low was a game against Sacramento on Thanksgiving night in 2010. And since most attendance figures are fudged for amusement, one could trust one’s eyes and assume that fewer than 10,000 people were actually in the building. The Clippers’ home may have the shortest honeymoon of any new or remodeled arena/stadium in the real-estate era of American sport; the home team’s longest sellout streak so far is two. Indeed, the only reason we noticed this game at all, even in the rearview mirror, was because it was so deficient as competition. It wasn’t the best or worst result ever: The most lopsided loss in NBA history would be Memphis 152, Oklahoma City 79 three years ago; Defector’s story on that game has the word “Thunderfart” in the headline. With all due respect to Kawhi Leonard, nobody had their best or worst game in this one, either. It was just a game of little note that let us momentarily forget all the things we can’t block out.