LA @ Brooklyn preview
Barclays Center
Last Meeting ( Jan 15, 2025 ) Brooklyn 67, L.A. Clippers 126
The Los Angeles Clippers still find themselves in a logjam in the Western Conference playoff race, and their performance of late eventually could help reduce the crowd around them.
The Clippers will attempt to strengthen their grip on sixth place in the West on Friday night when they visit the skidding Brooklyn Nets, whom they beat by 59 points on Jan. 15.
Los Angeles (41-31) shares the same record as the Golden State Warriors -- a team they defeated three times in the first two months of the season, giving them a head-to-head tiebreaker. The Clippers are 9-2 over their past 11 games following a stretch in which they dropped six of seven from Feb. 20-March 4.
The slump, immediately after the All-Star break, saw the Clippers in ninth place but only 1 1/2 games out of the final guaranteed playoff spot. Los Angeles is now three games back of the fifth-place Memphis Grizzlies, a half-game up on the Minnesota Timberwolves and six ahead of the Sacramento Kings.
The Clippers are on the verge of clinching their 14th straight winning season after James Harden and Kawhi Leonard continued to be effective together in Wednesday's 126-113 win over the New York Knicks to start their four-game road trip.
Los Angeles is averaging 119 points during its past 11 games while shooting 51.5 percent. The Clippers scored at least 120 for the seventh time in this run when they shot 51.1 percent and outscored the Knicks 72-58 after halftime.
"I thought in the second half we made some adjustments and were a lot better," Los Angeles coach Tyronn Lue said.
Harden scored 29 points against the Knicks despite tweaking his foot in the second half of Sunday's 103-101 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Harden has scored at least 25 points eight times in the past 11, including a 50-point outing March 5 against the Detroit Pistons.
Leonard added 27 Wednesday and has scored at least 20 in seven straight games. He made 10 of 18 shots against the Knicks and in his past seven, the forward is shooting 57.9 percent.
Entering play Thursday, Brooklyn (23-50) owned the fifth-worst record in the NBA and have lost five in a row. The Nets are on their fourth losing streak of at least five games and are 3-16 in their past 19 since winning six of seven.
Brooklyn is coming off a pair of non-competitive blowout home losses to the Dallas Mavericks and Toronto Raptors. The Nets never led in each game and fell behind early, getting outscored a combined 64-35 in the first quarter of those contests.
On Wednesday, the Nets took an 116-86 loss to the Raptors, who are last in the league in scoring at 105 points per game. They average just 43.8 percent shooting.
Nic Claxton led the Nets with 22 points and 11 rebounds after scoring 19 on Monday. He has scored in double figures in consecutive games for the first time since doing it in three straight Feb. 7-12.
The Nets rested Cameron Johnson and Claxton had little help from D'Angelo Russell. Russell returned from an ankle injury, shot 2-of-8 and is shooting 29.7 percent (22-of-74) over his past six games since a 28-point showing at Charlotte on March 8.
"Obviously we don't want to be this team that gets smashed by 30," Brooklyn's Trendon Watford said. "But we know what we've got to do. And we don't want to be this team. So we've just gotta lock in these next nine games and work towards what we're trying to do."
--Field Level Media