Two teams that continue to be plagued by the injury bug meet when the visiting Los Angeles Clippers face the Dallas Mavericks in an NBA Cup game on Friday night.
Los Angeles is looking to snap a six-game losing streak, while Dallas is 3-9 and off to its worst start through 12 games since going 2-10 to begin the 2017-18 campaign.
The Clippers are heading out for a seven-game trip without two key contributors. The team announced on Wednesday that guard Bradley Beal will miss the remainder of the season with a left hip fracture.
Los Angeles forward Kawhi Leonard is traveling with the team, but the six-time All-Star will miss his sixth straight game due to a sprained ankle and foot.
With both players sidelined, the Clippers struggled to contain Nikola Jokic (55 points and 12 rebounds) in a 130-116 home loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.
James Harden led Los Angeles with 23 points, while Jordan Miller added a career-high 22 and Ivica Zubac had 18. Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said the upcoming road trip will give his team a chance to regroup.
“We hit some rough patches these last six games,” Lue said, “so going out on the road, finding ourselves, playing better basketball, getting some wins, and it starts with Dallas coming up. It’s not going to be an easy game.”
Nothing has come easy this season for Dallas, which played without Kyrie Irving (knee), Anthony Davis (calf) and Dereck Lively II (knee) in a 123-114 home loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday.
Dallas added another member to their injured list on Wednesday, when forward P.J. Washington Jr. exited the game in the first quarter with a left shoulder strain. He is listed as day-to-day.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd was encouraged by how his team responded following Washington’s injury.
“Lose (Washington) five minutes into the game,” Kidd said. “But the left shoulder strain, that put us down a guy who’s playing well for us. But the group kept fighting, competing to the end. It’s just the margin is so small for us.”
Dallas guard Klay Thompson scored a season-high 19 points off the bench in the loss. Now in his second season with the Mavericks following an illustrious run with the Golden State Warriors, Thompson said injuries have been an ongoing issue since he joined the team.
“I’m praying for a day while I’m in this Mavericks uniform that we can be whole,” Thompson said.
“It’s hard, because we’ve been struck by the injury bug the whole time I’ve been here, and I just can’t wait for the day we’re whole. That’s going to be such a pleasant sight to see.”
Dallas lost three of its four meetings last season against the Clippers, who are experimenting with different rotations this month.
Miller played 26 minutes off the bench in his first game action of the season on Wednesday against Denver, while young players Cam Christie, Kobe Brown and Kobe Sanders were also utilized in the loss.
“I think the coaches are showing a lot of confidence in (our young players),” Lue said. “These guys are showing confidence. We know we’ve got to do some things better, we know we’re short-handed and we don’t have a lot of margin for error. We understand that.”
