Clippers-Hornets game is on for now, but that could change
The status of the Clippers-Charlotte Hornets game scheduled to be held Saturday night at the Intuit Dome remains unclear because of the ongoing devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. As of late Friday afternoon, the NBA office had no word on whether the game would be postponed.
The Lakers, who saw their Thursday game against the Hornets postponed indefinitely, were set to play the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.
The Rams were supposed to host a playoff game at SoFi Stadium on Monday night, but the NFL moved the game to Arizona because of the wildfires. The Trinity-Mission League Showcase, a high school basketball event that had been scheduled for Friday at Intuit Dome, has been rescheduled for February.
The game against the Hornets (8-27) would give the Clippers (20-17) a chance to get back on track after dropping three of four games over six days. Then came the devastating L.A. fires and another tough loss followed as the events weighed heavily on the minds of the players.
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard left the team before their road loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday to attend to his family which had been evacuated from their Pacific Palisades home, while other players expressed their emotions on social media, such as Nicolas Batum urged residents to “Stay Safe L.A.” on X (formerly Twitter).
“It looked heavy,” Coach Tyronn Lue said of the game after losing to the Nuggets, 126-103. “I’m not sure what the guys are going through. We didn’t have the pop, we didn’t have the physicality, we didn’t have the fight that we’ve been having.”
The Clippers returned home Thursday to a city ravaged by unprecedented wildfires that raced through the communities of Malibu, Altadena and Sylmar, in addition to Pacific Palisades, which are homes to many athletes and celebrities.
Now, amid that backdrop, they must resume playing basketball, with a schedule that has them set to play seven of their next eight games at the Intuit Dome.
“(We need to) take advantage of it,” Clippers star James Harden said of their homestand.
Harden added that the team now has the opportunity to “go back home and do something special, take care of business, get our rhythm back, get our swagger back.”
The Clippers will be looking to build some momentum, as they continue to integrate Leonard into the offense and juggle the starting unit. Leonard returned to the court on Jan. 4 in a commanding victory against the Atlanta Hawks, giving the team a spark after consecutive losses to the Victor Wembanyama-led San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The six-time All Star missed the first 34 games of the season because of lingering knee issues.
Yet, Leonard, again playing limited minutes, looked out of sorts in his second game, scoring eight points on 3-for-11 shooting in a two-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday. He added two assists and two rebounds in 21 minutes.
“Just having him on the floor like I said is huge for us,” Lue said. “Just gotta keep getting (him) reps, keep getting minutes, keep stacking ’em up, keep getting him games and he’ll get back to (being) Kawhi.”
While Norman Powell led the Clippers with 25 points and James Harden added 22 points and Ivica Zubac had 17 points, 16 rebounds and six blocked shots against Minnesota, their defense couldn’t stop Anthony Edwards. Edwards scored 28 of his 37 points in the second half to help the Timberwolves overcome a 19-point deficit.
“I mean no breakdowns (by us), just big shots by them,” Lue said. “We were right there. Ant’s capable of making those shots.”
HORNETS AT CLIPPERS
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood
TV/radio: FDSN SoCal, 570 AM