Oct. 29: Mavericks at Clippers
Two games into the season, Mavs pay a visit to new nemesis DeAndre Jordan.

Nov. 7: Rockets at Clippers
Clippers can exorcise demons against team that overcame their 3-1 playoff series lead.

Dec. 25: Clippers at Lakers
Hasn’t been much of a rivalry last three years, but always draws intrigue in this city.

February 18: Spurs at Clippers
Favorite to win NBA title pays visit to a Clippers team hoping to prove it’s elite.

March 23: Clippers at Golden State
Late-season matchup in defending NBA champs’ building a possible playoff preview.

Despite the lopsided nature of the intracity rivalry, the Lakers and Clippers will play each other in a marquee setting this coming NBA season.

L.A.’s two basketball teams will face off at 7:30 p.m. Christmas day, according to the 2015-16 NBA schedule released Wednesday afternoon.

The Clippers have beaten the Lakers seven consecutive times. In fact. the Clippers’ lone loss over the past three years of the hallway series remains a 116-103 Lakers triumph in the 2013 season opener. The Lakers have not only lost 11 of their past 12 to the Clippers, those contests have been decided by a margin of nearly 20 points per game.
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Glen Davis is questionable to play in Saturday’s Game 7 of the Clippers’ first-round series against the Spurs, a potentially huge blow to coach Doc Rivers’ eight-man rotation. Davis will be a game-time decision after spraining his left ankle with 11:07 left the Clippers’ 102-96 Game 6 victory in San Antonio Thursday night.

“We’ll find out more (Saturday),” Rivers said on a conference call. “We won’t know much (Friday).”

Davis is just one of eight Clippers to have played in all six games of the series. He was helped off the court by the training staff, ruled out for the rest of the game and taken to the locker room in a wheelchair Thursday night.

Hedo Turkoglu and Spencer Hawes are the primary candidates Rivers mentioned to fill Davis’ 6-foot-9, 289-pound void, but the two have played a combined 33 minutes in the series. Or the Clippers could opt for a smaller lineup.
Continue reading “Glen Davis questionable for Game 7” »

Glen Davis was often the antidote to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s strategy to intentionally foul Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, who is shooting 39 percent from the free throw line in the postseason.

Davis is listed as questionable for Game 7 with a sprained ankle suffered with 11:07 left in Thursday night’s Game 6. If Davis can’t play tomorrow night, it removes Rivers’ most proven replacement for Jordan. Does the Clippers coach think there’s a chance the Hack-a-DJ tactic will subside in Game 7?

“I think the chances are slim and none,” Rivers said. “I think they’ll absolutely do it…We deal with it game by game and almost moment by moment. It’s gone both ways. I know (Jordan) wants to make them. I know he works to make them.”
Jordan made 14 of 31 free throws combined in Games 5 and 6 after shooting just four total free throws in the previous two games.

Clippers coach Doc Rivers sounded relieved to have found at least a little success behind the 3-point line in Game 6. After his team shot just 1 of 14 from beyond the arc in Game 5, Thursday night’s 22 percent shooting from deep was a significant improvement.

Matt Barnes made both his 3-point attempts and J.J. Redick’s only successful 3-pointer in four attempts gave the Clippers a 92-86 lead with 3:27 to play in the eventual 102-96 victory in Game 6 of the first-round playoff series against the defending champion Spurs.

Rivers can only hope the Clippers’ improvement means it’s trending back toward Games 1 and 2, when the team shot 56 and 31 percent from 3-point range, respectively, while shooting more volume.

Part of the problem is the Clippers aren’t getting as many looks, hoisting a series-low 14 3-pointers in Game 5 and 18 in Game 6.

“The Spurs have done a tremendous job of running us off the 3-point line,” Rivers said. “We did miss some wide open ones (in Game 6), but when you don’t get as many shots, you’re not in rhythm.”