Thanksgiving hangover or not? • 213hoops.com

The Clippers will look to keep the positive Thanksgiving spirit alive when they travel to Minneapolis to face the struggling Timberwolves.

Game information

Where: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

When: 4:30 p.m. PT

Here’s how to watch: ESPN, FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570

Expected starting lineups

Hair clippers: James Harden – Kris Dunn – Amir Coffey – Derrick Jones Jr. – Ivica Zubac

Wolves: Mike Conley – Anthony Edwards – Jaden McDaniels – Julius Randle – Rudy Gobert

Injuries

Hair clippers: Kawhi Leonard is out (knee), Norm Powell Questionable (hamstring), Kobe Brown is out (back), PJ Tucker is out (off-team), Trentyn Flowers is out (G-League), Cam Christie is out (G -league)

Wolves: Joe Ingles Out (calf)

The big picture

With almost a quarter of the season played, the Clippers are 12-8 and are on pace for a 49-win season, which would be a shocking result without Kawhi Leonard. Your defense has increased to 5^Th in the NBA, while their offense has settled at 22^ndwhich isn’t great, but was enough to get the job done. They win as a team because they were able to overcome the extended absence of not only Kawhi, but also leading scorer Norm Powell and backup center Mo Bamba. It was a fun, entertaining group, with a few notable exceptions — cough, Kevin Porter Jr. and rotation player Kai Jones cough — that played hard and only felt truly outclassed by the Celtics and Rockets. There’s still a lot of season ahead of us, but this team is really tough and difficult to deal with.

The antagonist

The Wolves, on the other hand, have had a very disappointing season with fans booing the team at their last home games. After reaching the Western Conference finals last year and hoping for a repeat performance this season, the Wolves are just 8-10 to start the year with a record of 13^Th Rank Offensive and 12th^Th Rank defense. Being close to the top 10 on both sides of the ball suggests things aren’t that bad and the Wolves have a positive points differential. But things are even worse on the court, as Julius Randle doesn’t mesh well with Rudy Gobert or Anthony Edwards on offense, and the team clearly lacks the rebounds and size of Karl-Anthony Towns on defense. The Wolves definitely have the talent to turn things around and there are games where they look very good. But Mike Conley’s age, Jaden McDaniel’s inability to shoot and Donte DiVincenzo’s regression after a career year are all danger signs for the Wolves, and it remains to be seen whether they can be overcome.

Notes

Win the turnover battle: The Wolves actually score the ball quite efficiently (8^Th in true shooting), but have an average offense because they turn the ball over at the 23^approx worst odds in the NBA. The Clippers are in a similar boat as their offense sits at 16^Th in true shooting but 28^Th when releasing the ball. So if the Clippers can keep their turnovers down while forcing the usual amount of turnovers on the other side, they have a very good chance of winning. Of course, this is easier said than done, but it is a relatively easy path to victory.

Harden’s shooting momentum: James Harden put together three of his most efficient shooting performances of the season in a row, culminating in his impressive 43-point performance against the hapless Wizards on Wednesday. The Wolves are a completely different animal than the Wizards, even if they’re lacking defensively this year, but Harden is 13-26 from three in his last three games and is very difficult to stop when he’s rolling from deep comes. He certainly won’t shoot at this clip forever, but if he keeps rolling the dice for a few more games, he can help push the Clippers further above .500. The Wolves have a bevy of defenders to throw at him – Ant Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker – so a downturn would be understandable. But perhaps the beard can continue to surprise.

Miller time: Jordan Miller continued to impress. In the five games since entering the rotation, he averaged 9 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1 steal while shooting 51.3% from the field and 37.5% from three. He’s still a bit clumsy on defense, but his skills shine through and his effort is unquestionable. On offense, Millers’ determination when shooting, passing or driving is a stark contrast to that of two of his bench colleagues – Kevin Porter Jr. and Terance Mann – and has allowed him to be effective even against other teams’ true rotations. It will be very difficult to take him out of the rotation even if Norm comes back, and I think there could be cases where he should replace Mann (which I wouldn’t do) or Porter Jr. (yes) in the rotation.