While the Los Angeles Clippers will be out to rediscover their offense on Friday, the New Orleans Pelicans will search for their first victory when the teams meet at Inglewood, Calif.
They’ll contest the NBA Cup opener for both teams, who are in West Group B with the Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies.
The Clippers shot 36.6% from the floor and scored a mere 30 second-half points in a 98-79 road loss against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. It was the Clippers’ lowest-scoring game since October 2021.
Some numbers from a subpar second half were gruesome. Los Angeles made just 1-of-10 3-point attempts, committed eight turnovers and saw James Harden shoot 0-of-3 from the floor with two turnovers in 12 minutes.
The Clippers led 49-46 at halftime before trailing by 24 points with 3:44 remaining. Bradley Beal has missed the past two games with back soreness, leaving Los Angeles without a key scoring threat who can handle the ball.
“We just can’t have the offensive lulls throughout the course of the game like we’ve been having,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said. “It’s combinations. I like our second unit, staggering (the playing time for) James and Kawhi (Leonard). But that didn’t happen once both those guys got tired at the same time. It put us in a tough bind.”
The upside for the Clippers is that they are headed back home where they are 2-0 and scoring 121.5 points per game. They are 0-2 and scoring 93.5 points on the road.
More good news is that Beal was removed from the injury report from Friday’s game and is set to return against New Orleans.
“Just continue to hone in on trying to build good habits and stack good days,” said the Clippers’ John Collins, who had five points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes against the Warriors. “Eighty-two games in the season, I don’t think anybody has ever won all 82.”
Nobody has lost all 82 either, but the Pelicans are on pace after a rough opening to the season. They have lost all four of their games and their play only seems to be getting worse.
New Orleans lost its season opener to the Grizzlies by six points, then fell in overtime in its home opener to the San Antonio Spurs. Since then, there was a 122-90 home loss to the Boston Celtics and Wednesday’s 122-88 defeat at Denver.
The Pelicans shot 37.6% from the floor Wednesday and were overwhelmed during an 11-point third quarter, while the Nuggets scored 39 points in the period.
Life without Dejounte Murray (Achilles) has been as rough as expected. Adding in the left knee sprain for Kevon Looney has made matters worse.
Rookie Jeremiah Fears, the No. 7 overall selection in this year’s NBA Draft, scored a career-best 21 points Wednesday on 10-of-15 shooting from the floor. The 19-year-old added a career-best six assists.
“The biggest thing I like about (Fears) is that he is going to continue to attack on both ends of the floor no matter what’s going on,” Pelicans head coach Willie Green said. “I think that type of spirit has to be a part of who we are as a team and we’re not there at this moment.”
The Pelicans won just once in three matchups between the teams last season but went 11-3 over the prior four seasons, including a 5-2 record at Los Angeles in that stretch.