{"id":560438,"date":"2026-01-25T19:50:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T19:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/560438\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T19:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T19:50:16","slug":"nets-vs-clippers-preview-the-start-of-the-road-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/560438\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets vs. Clippers preview: The start of the road trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WASHINGTON,<\/a><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 19: James Harden #1 of the LA Clippers interacts with fans after the game against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena on January 19, 2026 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Scott Taetsch\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

Almost had it, but not quite. The Brooklyn Nets had the Boston Celtics on the ropes Friday night, but a late mistake proved costly as they ultimately fell short <\/a>in double overtime. The L was the team\u2019s fourth in a row.<\/p>\n

The opponent tonight, amazingly, is back in the playoff chase. A couple months ago, the Los Angeles Clippers looked dead in the water and were dangerously close to landing near the top of the NBA Draft<\/a>, which would wind up going to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Luckily for them, they\u2019ve figured things out. They beat <\/a>the LA Lakers on Thursday night and have won eight out of their last ten games.<\/p>\n

YES Network on TV. Gotham Sports on streaming. WFAN on radio. Tip after 9:30 PM.<\/p>\n

No Cam Thomas (left ankle sprain), Nolan Traore (illness), or Haywood Highsmith (surgery recovery). Noah Clowney is doubtful with back soreness.<\/p>\n

No Bradley Beal, Bogdan Bogdanovic, or Derrick Jones. Kawhi Leonard is questionable. Chris Paul remains in exile thanks to the Clippers front office.<\/p>\n

LA won the first <\/a>meeting earlier this month.<\/p>\n

As the Nets PR staff noted to ND, the trip west was eventful thanks to the weather in the Northeast\u2026<\/p>\n

But they are now safely ensconced in L.A. where it\u2019s 62 degrees and partly sunny.<\/p>\n

Nic Claxton and Day\u2019ron Sharpe are going to be in for a fight on the inside tonight. Ivica Zubac is tied for fifth in the NBA in rebounding at a shade over 11 boards per game. He\u2019s especially tough to deal with on the offensive glass as he captures almost four o-boards a night. To make things more challenging for the Brooklyn duo, Zu is tremendous at the rim. The big guy has shot 70 percent on shots inside of three feet for six consecutive seasons and has an especially soft touch on jump hooks and the like. With Clowney banged up, more will be on their plates tonight. Both of these teams have struggled on the glass this month. Brooklyn is 29th in rebounding in January while Los Angeles is 25th. Whoever wins the possession battle has a great chance of winning this game.<\/p>\n

If the Nets want to keep up with the Clips, they\u2019re going to need a huge night from Michael Porter Jr. MPJ struggled in the first matchup against Los Angeles, which was a game after he experienced an MCL sprain against the Orlando Magic. He\u2019s toughing it out, but it has taken a bit of a toll on his performance. Either way, he\u2019ll see if he can make something happen, especially if Leonard is limited tonight.<\/p>\n

This Nets team has a great tendency to bounce back and fight harder after tough losses. It speaks to the buy in across the roster and with a team looking to find its future, something that\u2019s a good value to possess. As Nic Claxton recently said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so many games when you play an 82-game season. So, you really just can\u2019t get too high, you can\u2019t get too low. You get beat by 50, you got to be ready to respond. If you lose a tough game like this, you just kind of just got to be even-keeled through everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gotta keep picking yourself up every time you get knocked down.<\/p>\n

Player to \ud83d\udc40: James Harden<\/p>\n

Just when you think it\u2019s over, Harden reminds you how special he is. This is year 17 for the future Hall of Famer and while he\u2019s not at the gravity bending highs of his peak, is still incredibly good at what he does. The Beard is still a great finisher at the rim, a foul drawing magnet, and has gotten his turnover rate considerably down even as he\u2019s taken on more offensive responsibilities. Harden still has his flaws of course, but the good he does outweighs it. As the Clippers hope to go on a miracle run this postseason, they\u2019re going to need their lead guard to play at a superstar level if they want to beat the bevy of title contenders in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

With no Traore, Egor D\u0451min and Drake Powell will get more minutes at the guard position. D\u0451min hasn\u2019t crossed the 25 minutes played plateau in each of his past four games, but that should change tonight with Traore and Cam Thomas out. This is the start of a five game road trip that will take the Nets across the country. We\u2019re deep in the dog days of the NBA season as everyone\u2019s waiting for the trade deadline to pass and then the All Star break so they can get some much needed rest. For rookies trying to find their footing, it\u2019s especially tough as the grind of the NBA season is starting to wear on them a bit. A good outing from the kids tonight would give them a nice boost as they face some tough competition ahead.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Conference Championship Sunday in the NFL, and the Seattle Seahawks are looking to reach their first Super Bowl in over a decade. We can\u2019t watch it here because the NFL doesn\u2019t do YouTube embeds, so watch it here<\/a>. While you do that, special shouts to Alicia Keys<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 19: James Harden #1 of the LA Clippers interacts with fans after the game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3767],"tags":[7,670,247,3803,6,671,19734],"class_list":{"0":"post-560438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn-nets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklynnets","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nets","14":"tag-nets-game-previews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115957480823521243","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}