JSM’s Nightly Matchups

Chucky Atkins vs. Marko Jaric: Chucky is coming off a couple of very solid games, we will need nothing less of him tonight. When these two played against each other in the pre-season, Jaric dominated Atkins in every category. Marko just played a big game against the Raptors last night and was flirting with triple double stats, but the positive out of this is that he played 39 minutes. I am hoping that Chucky can get active in the game early, get on a fast break or two, play up-tempo ball, and try on the defensive end; if he can do these few things, I think he can start to wear Jaric out early, the faster this happens, the sooner he comes out of the game and they have to rely on the rookie. Jaric will play better than Atkins for when he is in the game, he is bigger, a better rebounder, better scorer, and a better passer. We can’t allow their point guard to get their rebounds, which will happen, if we don’t get after the defensive boards, he did pull down 8 rebounds against us in the pre-season and he played less than 30 minutes. I think that has to be a concern of ours going into tonight’s game. We also need to try to get Jaric to help out on Kobe and get a few fouls, again, the sooner the better. What we need to try to do is slow down their offense, because if we can get them to run half court offense, we can get Jaric to commit some turnovers. Then we have to worry about Livingston, who is 8 inches taller that Chucky, talk about problems. This is a mismatch, but not too bad of one, considering Livingston is still in the extreme early stages of getting used to the NBA and playing the point. He is 11th in the league in turnovers per 48 minutes, with close to 5. His shooting touch needs some work and a hint of consistency. And he needs to pack on the pounds or some muscle, because he weighs less than most point guards that are 6 feet. I think we can take him out of his game, if we apply pressure when he’s handling the ball, force him to shoot jumpers, keep him out of the paint, and stay aware of the passing lanes. Tierre will most likely see his minutes against Chalmers and limited against Livingston, I think he will have a better game, since it will be at home, and he seems to be more comfortable and confident in front of the home crowd. Our last home game, he had 13 points and 5 assists. This should be a break out of the funk type game for him, not too incredibly difficult against Chalmers and Livingston.

Kobe Bryant vs. Corey Maggette: The player averaging the second most points per game against the player rounding out the top 20 in points per game. This should be a very fun matchup to watch and I would expect for both players to have big nights. Both are bulky, athletic, extremely talented SG’s that like to score and are great at getting to the line. When these two met in the pre-season, Kobe shot 17 free throws, Maggette shot 19, so both are players that are going to get probably over half of their points tonight from the charity stripe. I don’t think either will stop the other from getting to the line, or from scoring at least 25 points. Kobe might be able to get Corey to get sloppy with the ball though, something he has done often this year, he is 10th in the league in total turnovers, but Kobe has also been making poor decisions with passing the ball, so that could go either way. Kobe should probably be sitting tonight, resting his foot, but the competitor in him just won’t have anything to do with the notion of sitting out to rest his foot. He has sat out of practice this week, getting therapy, treatment, and anything else done to his foot that Vitti can come up with to try to limit the pain, and allow him to play the best he can with the injury. So, hopefully all of that will help out, if not then Kobe will just push himself as hard as he deems necessary for tonight’s game against the Clippers. I think that Kobe will try to get to the line as much as possible tonight, hoping to draw fouls on Brand and Maggette, and trying to not have to shoot too much. Standing from the line, shooting two free throws requires a lot less effort, than an 18 foot jump shot. If Kobe can get to the line early, pull Corey along with him, and get him in foul trouble at least during some point in the game, then he has it smooth sailing, because Ross is far from a Kobe limiter (stoppers don’t exist). Kobe won’t be able to use his bulked up body against Corey very much, because he too is a beast. But against the 190 something pound Ross, you got to be kidding me. Kobe will camp out in the post when Ross is in the game, then just back his way to the basket. Kobe can take it easy on defense, or help on Brand, when Ross is in the game, because he only averages 1 bucket a game, far from an offensive threat. I don’t really see Rush making an impact tonight, he hasn’t all season, and with Kobe logging in close to an average of 42 minutes a night, a struggling Rush won’t do much of anything productive in that amount of time.

Caron Butler vs. Bobby Simmons: Believe it or not, Bobby is actually having a better season than Caron is. We are going to need Caron to step up, because the less we have to rely on Kobe to bail us out, the better for his foot, meaning the better for us down the road, and the less likely that he will have to miss any games. We are going to need for Caron to beat Bobby on the glass and attack. His shot wasn’t falling against the Rockets, probably had something to do with the Giant in the middle, and since the Clippers don’t have anything resembling a giant, getting to the basket should be easier. Simmons is similar to Caron in bulk and athleticism, but Caron will be coming out tonight looking to try to get involved early on. If he attacks the rim and goes after the rebounds, I will be satisfied with his game tonight. If Simmons slacks on D, like he did against Lamond, then Caron will look to take advantage, and get some sort of rhythm going. With JJ on the injured list and George not ready to come back, that leaves Luke as the backup SF. If he plays nearly as many minutes as he did against the Rockets, I would hope for more than 1 assist. I think having Staples cheering Luuuuuke whenever he touches the ball will help his confidence, meaning more shooting and better passing. I mean 20% shooting with two points is horrible, we need to see the Luke that we saw in the playoffs, and now would be a good time for a playoff Luke spotting. Since the Clippers are very lacking in the backup Small Forward it is likely that Brunson, who is a PG/SG will be playing against Luke. Since Luke is 4 inches taller and 45 pounds heavier, I think Luke should have no problem with him.

Lamar Odom vs. Elton Brand: If at all possible, we are going to need for Lamar to carry as much of the offensive load as possible tonight, like I said in the Caron matchup…the less Kobe has to do, the better. These two can get a double-double easier than most of the players in the league, in fact Odom is currently averaging one with 14.5 points a game and just over 10 rebounds a game. The problem against Brand is that he is so much bigger than Lamar is. Odom is taller by a couple of inches, making him more versatile, possibly an advantage for us tonight, but whenever a player gives away 50 pounds to his opponent, you know there are going to be some problems there. If Brand leaves the paint, we will be lucky, but he would be stupid to do so. All he has to do is just back Odom down, move him aside, and lay it up or dunk it. Maybe if there was a beeper for when he started backing up that would help, but the weight differential really concerns me. Another problem is that Brand is an extremely good rebound, especially on his own end of the court, meaning second chance points for them, meaning very bad news for us. I think that we are going to have to use a lot of Grant vs. Brand, in fact I would almost have BG on him for 3/4 of the game, and find somewhere else to play Odom, just to try to match mass with mass. When Odom is playing he is going to have to match E’s production on our end, and he can’t give up any rebounds. We have to have an aggressive Odom or we are in for a long night. This is one of the few games in the season, where I would rather Grant get more playing time than Odom. The Clippers will have to play one of the many centers as their backup PF, since Wilcox has to start at center. Since these guys are bigger than Cook, I doubt he will see more than a couple of minutes. Slava might play any day now, but I don’t think he would see much playing time, Rudy will probably try to work him in the rotation slowly.

Chris Mihm vs. Chris Wilcox: The key for Mihm tonight is to stay out of foul trouble, only playing 15 minutes, like he did against the Rockets won’t help us at all. We need Mihm for 30+ minutes tonight. He needs to come out aggressive tonight. We are going to need all the help that we can get on the glass tonight, with everyone on the Clippers starting lineup being very good rebounders for their position. If our frontcourt isn’t aggressive tonight, we will lose. Mihm needs to take advantage of the fact that he is much bulkier and slightly taller than the Clippers backup PF, turned center. Wilcox has had an amazing season so far, having only one game where he hasn’t been in double figures. He also has been very active on the opposing team’s glass, meaning more bad news. Hopefully Mihm can win this battle, and deter Wilcox from going to the basket by sending a few of his shots towards the front row. If Slava is ready to go tonight, I would think that he would see more minutes at center that at the PF, we are going to need some depth there tonight, since the Clippers have four centers.

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