The Cleveland Cavaliers face off against one of the NBA’s best teams on Sunday in the LA Clippers, but newly-acquired big man Andre Drummond should be able to make a big impact, which should help Cleveland be more competitive.
On Sunday, the Cleveland Cavaliers play host to the LA Clippers, who are one of the NBA’s best teams with a 36-16 record and are currently the three seed in the Western Conference.
The advantage for the Cavs and the way they could be competitive and have a chance in this one, though, is obviously the frontcourt.
While it’s unclear at this point how the fit between newly-acquired big man Andre Drummond and Kevin Love will be in the frontcourt, both of those pieces should have a big impact offensively, especially with Love seemingly being able to get some spot-ups. Anyway, Cleveland will need Drummond, in particular, to feast against LA in this one.
Outside of center Ivica Zubac, who only has played 17.9 minutes per game, Cleveland’s clear strategy in this one should be to play inside-out and slow the pace of the game down.
While the Clippers are very good defensively, with key pieces on the perimeter in Patrick Beverley and superstar two-way players in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, and recently via reported trade with the New York Knicks, Marcus Morris Sr., who along with JaMychal Green, can defend Love pretty well even in the post, Drummond again should be able to draw his share of attention.
Well if Darius Garland and Collin Sexton can get him the ball on the low block and feasibly as a roller, at least.
The Clips’ defense again is one that is stingy, as evidenced by them ranking sixth in defensive rating, and though LA is fairly small at the 5 spot aside from Zubac, as they play Montrezl Harrell more there, they still have given up just the sixth-fewest paint points per game in 2019-20, according to NBA.com.
Part of the reason for that, though, is that the likes of Beverley, George and Leonard, and to some extent, Rodney McGruder, put so much pressure on opposing guards/wings on the ball, and that makes it difficult for opponents to get passes into his rollers/traditional bigs.
Leonard, for reference, is tied for third among qualified players in steals per game this season with 1.9, according to Basketball Reference.
That being said, in this one, Leonard is reportedly out due to injury management related to left knee soreness and Beverley is out due to a groin injury, the Clippers announced on Sunday, h/t The Athletic‘s Jovan Buha.
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LA is on the second leg of a back-to-back, and Beverley missed LA’s last game in what was a loss at the Minnesota Timberwolves, anyhow.
To me, though I’m sure Harrell, who is one of the NBA’s best reserves and puts up 18.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game, per Basketball Reference, will be a tough cover at the other end as a roller/lob threat, if Drummond gets some reps in against him in this one, Cleveland needs to take advantage there offensively.
That should force the help to come, and without Leonard and Beverley pressuring the likes of Cedi Osman, Collin Sexton, Garland and I’d imagine Kevin Porter Jr. a bit, the clearer passing lanes should open up if Cleveland is aware of George’s presence, which should lead to some ball swings to Love, back to the guards, and I’d imagine in some instances, Larry Nance Jr.
Nance is a much-improved three-point shooter as shown by him knocking in a solid 35.5 percent of those looks this season and he’s a good secondary playmaker himself, too, for the record.
Moreover, even with Beverley and Leonard out on Sunday, on the other end, the Cleveland Cavaliers will still have to account for one of the best bench scorers in the league in Lou Williams, again, Harrell, George, Marcus Morris (who is expected to make his LA debut) and Landry Shamet, and hopefully Drummond stays out of foul trouble.
At any rate, the line for this game, as shown below courtesy of The Action Network, shows that even with Leonard and Beverley out, the Drummond experiment will likely take some time to gel with Love and others and I wouldn’t expect a Cavs’ W here. That’s why the clear and overwhelming majority of bets at The Action Network have come in on the Clips in this one, and plus, Cleveland has lost 11 straight home games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
On the bright side, Cavs fans should again be looking forward to Drummond’s first game as a Cavalier, as he’s reportedly expected to make his debut and I’d think should be a key focal point for Cleveland and should provide a formidable presence in the paint defensively.
Hopefully the big man, who is leading the league in rebounding once again with 15.8 rebounds per game, per NBA.com, and is averaging a career-best 17.8 points per contest, can have a particularly active presence in this one against a Clippers team minus two big pieces.
It will be interesting to see how Tristan Thompson does as a bench contributor as well, as he’s reportedly not on the injury report in relation to a right quad injury that caused him to miss the Cavs’ last two games.
So again, the Cleveland Cavaliers will have their work cut out for them, but Drummond should be able to make a significant impact in his debut and I’m sure we’ll get a few lobs thrown to the two-time All-Star by the likes of Garland and others.