The Los Angeles Clippers have been without one of their stars all season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will have to adjust to being without one of theirs for the time being.
On Monday night, the teams will square off in Oklahoma City with the Clippers still without Kawhi Leonard and the Thunder without Chet Holmgren.
Leonard has yet to play this season due to inflammation in his right knee. He won’t travel with the Clippers during a three-game trip that begins with Monday’s contest.
The game will be the second of four meetings between the teams this season. Oklahoma City won the first meeting, 105-92, in Los Angeles on Nov. 2.
Holmgren played a significant role in that game with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said after that game that Holmgren’s abilities made the Thunder particularly difficult to defend.
But now, Oklahoma City will be without Holmgren for at least eight to 10 weeks after he sustained a pelvic fracture during the first quarter of Sunday’s contest against the Golden State Warriors. Holmgren fell hard on his right hip after trying to defend a layup near the rim. The team announced the injury as a right iliac wing fracture and said he is expected to return this season.
Holmgren is averaging 16.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.6 blocks a game this season.
Oklahoma City trailed Sunday’s game by 30 late in the third quarter before pulling as close as six late before the Warriors won 127-116.
“This is a resilient, tough, competitive, adaptive team,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, “and that’s what we’re going to be, regardless of the circumstances.”
The Thunder might have to be even more adaptive.
Before Holmgren’s injury, Oklahoma City already was thin in the frontcourt with Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams all injured. Those three have not appeared in a game this season.
“It’s kind of a next-man-up thing,” Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams said. “Can’t dwell too long.”
The Thunder’s defense, which ranks best in the league with 100.3 points allowed per 100 possessions, figures to be most affected without Holmgren.
“All of us have to figure out how to get stops and rebound,” Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said.
The Clippers’ defense also is in the top five in the league, allowing 107.7 points per 100 possessions.
After dropping their first matchup with the Thunder, the Clippers fell to 2-4 for the season. But Los Angeles has won four consecutive games since then, including Saturday’s 105-103 home victory over Toronto.
During the four-game winning streak, Clippers center Ivica Zubac is averaging 14.8 points and 12.3 rebounds.
“Zu’s been great,” Lue said. “The big man that we’ve been playing a lot of minutes, but he’s one of the most durable big men in the league, probably the most durable big man in the league.”
Zubac has played in at least 68 games in each of the last four seasons.
The Clippers have lost six consecutive games in Oklahoma City. They haven’t won there since March 3, 2020.
The Thunder are 2-0 on the second game of a back-to-back this season.
–Field Level Media