NBA

Los Angeles Clippers Stat Monkey Brief: Clippers/Magic (1/12/13)

Yulian Fedulov Jan 12th, 2013
Look everybody, it's the Matt Barnes Show! Appearing for what L.A. hopes is multiple nights.

Lob City Highlight of the Night

I didn’t know that Lamar Odom could still get up like this.

Quick Recap

In the preview, I wrote that the Clippers should have a huge advantage and blow the Mavericks out. Well, that didn’t quite happen. The Clippers were actually -9 on turnovers and had to grind the game out after being down three headed into the fourth. In the fourth, though, it was a different story. The Clippers shot 66.7 percent effective field goal percentage (eFG%) while holding the Mavericks to just 42.9 percent eFG%.

One of the other keys to the game for the Clippers, as so many times this season already, was their bench. In particular Matt Barnes, who dropped 19 points on seven of 11 shooting including six for eight from behind the arc. He also snagged seven boards and recorded three blocks. All of those number accumulated into a game score of 19.3, his second highest of the season.

Tonight’s Game

Tonight, the Clippers take on another team who is on an extended losing streak, this time the 12-23 Orlando Magic who have lost 10 in a row. The Magic are not very good; our nERD rankings rank them 23rd overall with a score of 38.3 and gives them 3.8 percent chance of making the playoffs. In my expert opinion, that is way too high; I am fairly certain I have a better chance of hitting the power ball. They also rank 16th and 23rd in defensive and offensive efficiency, respectively, and are the worst team at forcing turnovers, only forcing turnovers on 11.5 percent of the possessions.

The Magic’s biggest advantage over the Clippers is in defensive rebounding; they grab about 75 percent of the defensive rebounds and should limit some of the second chance points from the Clippers. On offense, the Magic grab only 25.3 percent of the offensive boards, but since the Clippers are one of the worst defensive rebounding teams, the Magic should be able to get a couple of extra putbacks.

In the end, however, there isn’t really anyone on the Magic’s roster that can take a game over. On the other end, the Clippers have one of the best team defenses (ranked third), so look for them to put the game away early and often.

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