Clippers at Pelicans
The Los Angeles Clippers dropped three consecutive games and will once again be shorthanded when they visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday. Power forward Blake Griffin is sidelined after recent knee surgery and the starting backcourt of Chris Paul and J.J. Redick could each miss another contest due to hamstring injuries.
Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers indicated the club will take the cautious approach with Paul (who missed three games) and Redick (one) as he doesn't want either player to rush back too soon and further injure their hamstrings. The Clippers suffered a 106-102 home loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday and are just 8-9 after a torrid 14-2 start. The Pelicans defeated the Dallas Mavericks 111-104 on Monday for their third victory in four games as they try to make a move up the Western Conference standings. "I'm not going to shy away from that at all," New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters. "It's very important that we find ways to win games. There's no getting around it at all. We got off to a bad start."
TV: 8 p.m. NBATV, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), FSN New Orleans
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (22-11): The current slide and the injury issues aren't causing backup guard Austin Rivers to lose any confidence about the team's prospects. "We'll be fine," Rivers told reporters. "We'll still be one of the top four seeds in the (Western Conference) playoffs. We'll still be one of the best teams in the West. We'll still go to the playoffs, but we've got to look at all of these little mistakes we're making and just correct them. We're too good of a team to start worrying about losing games. We're not going to continue to lose." Rivers had 19 points and five assists in the loss to Denver and is averaging 14 points in the three games Paul has missed.
ABOUT THE PELICANS (12-21): New Orleans is counting on Anthony Davis to lead the club out of the early season hole and the All-Star power forward recorded 28 points and 16 rebounds against Dallas for his fourth consecutive stellar game. Davis is averaging 30.3 points, 17.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots during the stretch and collected at least 15 rebounds in each contest. "Our season is on the line," Davis told reporters. "We've got a lot of games coming up, but we've got to win them at home."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Clippers beat the Pelicans twice by an average of 23 points earlier this month and won 15 of the past 20 meetings.
2. Los Angeles SG Jamal Crawford strung together three consecutive 20-point outings and is averaging 24 points during the stretch.
3. New Orleans backup SG Langston Galloway hit all five of his 3-point attempts against Dallas while scoring 17 points.