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The New Orleans Pelicans had the Smoothie King Center rocking on Wednesday night. CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, and Jonas Valanciunas played like a bona fide Big 3 as they took out the San Antonio Spurs on their home floor. But to make the playoffs, they face a much greater challenge in the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Clippers took one to the chin on Tuesday night in what ended up being an emotional victory by the opposing Minnesota Timberwolves. But despite the loss and the momentum from their visiting foes from New Orleans, there's reason to believe that the game is LAC's to lose. Here are the three biggest reasons the Clippers will beat the Pelicans in the 2022 NBA Play-In Tournament.
3 reasons Clippers will beat Pelicans in Play-In Game
Different team with Paul George
The Clippers and Pelicans were separated by just one seed in the standings, finishing eighth and ninth respectively. But there was a significant gap between both squads as LAC was a full six games ahead of the Pelicans in the standings.
That gap already existed even without Paul George, who playing in just 31 games during the regular season. But with him back in the mix and a handful of games under his belt, the Clippers are simply in a different tier of team than the Pelicans, and that's even without Kawhi Leonard planning a surprise return.
The Clippers were on a five game losing streak right before Paul George returned for Game 76 of the season. After he returned to the lineup, they proceeded to win six of their last seven to end the year.
This is mostly the same squad that overcame a Kawhi injury during the Western Conference Finals last season to beat the top-seeded Utah Jazz while also holding their own against Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals, this season's top-seeded team. When it comes to high-stakes contests, the Clippers will have the edge.
Home-court advantage that matters
The first advantage LA has is also the most obvious one. The Clippers will be playing in Los Angeles and the home team always has a bit of an edge over the visitors. The Clippers were a very strong home team during the regular season as they finished with a 25-16 record in the friendly confines of Crypto.com Arena.
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Going even further, the Clippers are undefeated in five home games since the return of Paul George. One of those games just so happened to include a 119-100 Pelicans drubbing less than two weeks ago. The Pelicans, meanwhile, are a relatively poor road team. They own a 17-24 record on away games this season.
Couple that with the fact that the Clippers also got an extra day of rest going into the contest and hard not to pick LA to take this one despite their rivals coming in with momentum from their previous win.
Tyronn Lue wins the coaching battle
First-year head coach Willie Green has done a tremendous job this season with his Pelicans squad. They started the season off with a 3-16 record and looked cooked not even 20 games into the new campaign. Couple that with Zion Williamson not suiting up for even a single game and there were more than enough reasons for them to roll over. But instead, they turned things around to get just one win away from a playoff berth, which would be their first since 2018.
But while Green has excelled in his first season as a head coach, Tyronn Lue won a title during his first year, honed his craft for several seasons, and has established himself as one of the best coaches in the NBA today. With an extra day of preparation and a much more experienced squad at his disposal, one that's been through hell and back together already, it's hard to imagine the Clippers side not having the edge in the coaching department.
Tyronn Lue knows what buttons to push and which in-game adjustments to make, especially going up against a much more inexperienced roster and coach.
The Clippers-Pelicans Play-In clash is far from one-sided going into the contest. But it's hard to see Los Angeles losing twice in a row, and on their home floor at that, to end their season.
