Brooklyn Nets vs. Los Angeles Clippers preview: Nets visit LA for two

Miami Heat v Los Angeles Clippers — Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images

The Brooklyn Nets play the second night of a back-to-back and the first of a Southern California double play. First up, the resurgent LA Clippers.

Late night hype. The Brooklyn Nets’ West Coast swing continued as they took on the Portland Trailblazers on Tuesday night. Brooklyn put on a show as their season high 132 points led them to an 18 point victory.

The opponent tonight might be the biggest surprise in the Western Conference. Despite some off-season departures, the Los Angeles Clippers have kept on keeping on and find themselves in the thick of the playoff chase. They helped the cause after beating the Miami Heat on Monday night.

Where to follow the game

YES Network on TV. WFAN on radio. Tip after 10:30 p.m. ET

Injuries

Nic Claxton missed last night’s game with right hamstring tightness. We’ll see if he’s back tonight. Night two of a back-to-back so we’ll see who sits. We definitely know Cam Thomas, Bojan Bogdanovic, Maxwell Lewis, Trendon Watford, or DeAnthony Melton. And it’s likely Ben Simmons will be on the bench as well.

PJ Tucker is not with the team as they are trying to trade him elsewhere.

The game

Throughout this month, California has been dealing with severe fires. It’s left a lot of destruction and affected the lives of millions of people in California and beyond. It’s a trying time, and the sports teams in the community have teamed up to provide some help

The 12 LA area pro sports teams have set up a coalition to help wildfire victims. Free clothing and supplies will be available at Dodger stadium, SoFi, and BMO for evacuated residents this Friday ❤️

— Molly Knight (@mollyknight.bsky.social) 2025-01-13T20:44:56.384Z

We gotta stick together and do our best to help each other out in this time of need.

On to the game, it’s pretty great to see Kawhi Leonard back out there. Kawhi has had such terrible injury luck in his career and seeing him out there is always fun. He and the team are taking their time getting him back up to speed, and with the condensed nature of the NBA season combined with the playoff chase, is probably the best decision. Don’t wanna push too hard out the gates and risk another setback or two.

Brooklyn won the rebound battle last night, and they’re going to need to bring their hard hats to the Intuit Dome tonight. Ivica Zubac is having an outstanding season as he’s fourth in the NBA in rebounding and is shooting above 60% from the field even with a bigger role on offense. He’s especially tough on the offensive glass and if the Nets aren’t careful, we’ll be seeing a whole lot of this tonight.

This should be an especially valuable test for one Noah Clowney. The kid has played at least 28 minutes in five straight games, and even if Claxton returns tonight, should see a similar amount every night going forward.

It’s fun to watch a player level up when given new responsibilities. We’ve seen it here in Brooklyn with Cam Johnson and in Los Angeles, we’re seeing it with Norman Powell. Powell is averaging a career high 16.9 field goal attempts per game, but it hasn’t taken away from his game as he’s put up .486/.443/.844 shooting splits in 33 minutes a night.

Player to watch: James Harden

Last night on the TNT broadcast between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers, Brian Anderson said something that shocked my system. January 14 marks the four year anniversary of the trade that sent James Harden from the Houston Rockets to the Nets. It really did feel like yesterday that the Nets were building to a championship, but… you know.

In the meantime, our old pal is playing like an All-Star. With the Leonard injury and Paul George move to Philadelphia, one could have reasonably assumed that Harden would struggle for much of the season. Although the shooting numbers aren’t the greatest and the turnover rate is too high for comfort, he’s done a great job keeping this team afloat. He’s seventh in the NBA in assists and ninth in free throws attempted per game. Even when the physical gifts start to go, the knowledge and tricks you’ve picked up over the years stay with you. Over at 213 Hoops, Robert Flom makes it plain:

In short, the Clippers would be absolutely cooked on offense without his scoring and playmaking, and if the Clippers can remain in the playoff race at the All Star break with Harden putting up similar numbers, he will be absolutely worthy of another All-Star berth.

And there it is.

We probably won’t see Ben Simmons tonight as this is the second leg of a road back-to-back. That in theory will mean Brooklyn’s other lefty former All Star will run the show. D’Angelo Russell came off the bench last night, but handed out nine assists to only one turnover in 21 minutes of action. Having a lead guard that keeps things organized is an essential to what the Nets are trying to do, and Russell has done a good job of that in his second act with Brooklyn. He’s also coming off of an injury, so we can’t guarantee he plays tonight either. If he does, look for him to be in the 20s as far as minute totals go.