The Clippers will play without several players, including Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley, and Montrezl Harrell, all of whom left the bubble for family emergencies. Williams is in quarantine preparing to rejoin the team, while Harrell has yet to return. The Clippers have listed Beverley as questionable for tonight\u2019s game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Clippers coach Doc Rivers told ESPN that if his team has to be short-handed, there\u2019s no better time than now.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys have the virus, guys have family stuff, and so you have all of this, what I call ‘clutter’ in your lives, and it\u2019s part of life,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cBut adversity is not all bad. You\u2019re going to go through hard stuff, and if it\u2019s at the beginning, then let\u2019s do it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
While this game is far from do-or-die, Lakers coach Frank Vogel is still placing plenty of importance on getting off to a strong start.<\/p>\n
More than anything, I think it\u2019s going to be a great measuring stick for where we\u2019re at,\u201d <\/strong>Vogel told reporters. \u201cYou don\u2019t sharpen yourselves as well against teams of lesser opponents as you would against a great team. It\u2019s definitely going to be a good test for us.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe Lakers (+260) and the Clippers (+320) trail only the Milwaukee Bucks (+240) in the odds to win the NBA Championship this year.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Orleans Pelicans will come into the first game of the NBA restart Thursday as a two-point favorite over the Utah Jazz. The league resumes its regular season from its bubble campus in Orlando, Fla. The Lakers and the Clippers will follow to complete opening night, with the Lakers entering the all-LA matchup as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":143310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
NBA Restart: Lakers, Pelicans Favored on Reopening Night<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n