NOTE: Today is Portland’s final NBA Cup game! Our own Conor Bergin broke down the scenarios and what the Blazers need to do to clinch a Wild Card spot.

Both the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers are doing better than expected. If you had told Clippers fans that their team would be well over .500 despite missing Kawhi Leonard to start the year, they would accept it. If Blazers fans had been told that Portland would be nearly five games ahead of the NBA’s cellar-dwellers, they might have been both surprised and a little disappointed – purely for lottery odds reasons.

With the season still young, there is still plenty of time for both clubs to take a nosedive, but despite the injuries we can expect an exciting battle between two teams with very different incentive structures who will still play to win.

Portland Trail Blazers (8-13) vs. Los Angeles Clippers (13-9) – Tue. Dec. 3 – 7:30 p.m. Pacific

How to watch via antenna or cable: Check out your options on the Rip City Television Network

How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else

Trail Blazers injuries: Scoot Henderson (daily); Donovan Clingan, Robert Williams III, Matisse Thybulle (out)

Clippers Injuries: Kawhi Leonard, PJ Tucker, Kobe Brown, Kevin Porter Jr. (out)

The Blazers just came off their best offensive game of the year, which was also one of their worst defensive games of the year. Anfernee Simons’ 24-point third quarter was the most promising part of the game: The future of the franchise depends in part on Ant playing well, whether or not you want him to stay on the team as a mentor to younger players You want him to do this to be exchanged for future assets.

The problem is that he is a hub for the defense. While that’s not a surprise, it was shocking to see Simons get spun around by his assignment at least twice on his flame-throwing shot in the third quarter – literally. Yes, he was in bad trouble. No, that doesn’t excuse the spatial confusion.

The Clippers will see this and lick their fingers.

With James Harden having an all-you-can-eat season with more shot attempts than his Rockets days and Blazers legend Norman Powell going crazy, expect Simons (and Scoot Henderson, if he plays) is attacked mercilessly. The Clippers can also rely on big man Ivica Zubac — who is having a career year himself — to punish the Blazers in a center matchup where Donovan Clingan or Robert Williams III would be REALLY helpful.

Reader questions

Before most games, we ask all of you to improve our preview by asking us questions! Look out for posts like this to add your questions and have them (possibly) answered right here in these previews!

From Raoulduke:

Will no one free me from this turbulent coach?

Hahaha! What a funny, completely non-serious joke! Ahhhhh… Oh, you!

Out of RipCity47:

Is James Harden the NBA’s most irritating “star player”? And why is your answer yes?

Harden is no longer a star. You could say it evolved into a red giant in the years after the Rockets, but now it’s firmly entrenched in planetary nebula territory. He’s still there. It still produces light. But it is less a heliocentric force than a collection of glowing dust clouds. Yes, he’s getting more shots than he has in years, but his efficiency is pretty poor. That being said, he’s become a little less annoying to me as his star power and ability to manipulate officials has waned.

From ClingFree:

Are there any features of the new Clippers Stadium that you would have liked to see in the Rose Garden? And don’t make me say “Moda Center.”

It would be nice to upgrade the toilets, as anyone who has waited more than ten minutes at half-time can attest! I’m not as big a fan of the giant wraparound video board as some and find it sometimes gets in the way of taking great photos of the field.

Out of Talent:

The Clippers’ new logo. An improvement? Or even worse?

Too busy! I like to go back to nautical elements, but do we really need a ship, a basketball AND a compass? AND the letter C, AND an anchor?? Absolutely not. It looks like what happens when half a dozen people smelling their own farts all want to incorporate their specific idea into the final product and the graphic designer doesn’t have the power to say no.

Out of The ghost of Petteri Koponen:

Will Kawhi Leonard play for the Clippers this season? Will he ever do it?

Well, considering Clippers coach Ty Lue said he didn’t expect Leonard to be out that long… maybe not? We have been in the reality for many years that Kawhi Leonard plays when he wants and when his body allows it. Both will cause your hose to be crushed, but both will cause the hose to become tangled. The strange thing is that Kawhi could very well come back in March, dominate a game or two a week, make the playoffs and look like the best player in the league. And if he stays healthy, the Clippers would be interesting. But the more likely outcome is what we’ve seen time and time again: He plays, he looks good, he gets hurt, he stays out.

What you should pay attention to:

Can Simons keep the offense going? After witnessing the sputters and jumps of old Anfernee Simons in the midst of a terrible year, his third-quarter rampage in the final game brought a sigh of relief across Portland strong enough to clear the fog. He’s averaging 26 points on 59% shooting and 53% from deep on nine attempts, AND gets four boards AND drops 6.7 dimes. Those are numbers that say he can provide first-round value, and while it’s not reasonable for him to continue like that, any approximation of his stats as a starter over the last few years would be very welcome.

About the opponent:

David Aldridge of The Athletic (subscription required) goes in-depth on former Blazers guard Norman Powell and his career year:

At 31 and in his 10th NBA season, Powell is unlikely to become a superstar like Harden. But like his current Clippers teammate, Powell always believed he could do more and accomplish more than he showed during three NBA stops in Toronto, Portland and LA. And he’s showing it this season, in a groundbreaking season in which he’s averaging 23.3 points per game, the highest of his career, including an incredible 48.7 percent on 3s, making his first start in his Career full time. Powell makes a compelling case for being an All-Star for the first time. Almost everyone who makes an All-Star team does so early in their career, most in their 20s. It would be an incredible twist of fate for a player who worked for 17 teams before the 2015 draft and was expected to be a late first-round pick, only to fall short in the second round and the 46th pick – and the has been fighting hard ever since – to do so so late in his career. “It’s something I’ve seen (done) myself and imagined and imagined,” Powell said The athlete Wednesday.

Law Murray of The Athletic (subscription required) writes about how James Harden is helping the Clippers succeed in his new role despite questionable efficiency:

Harden has already played more games with more than 30 points this season than he did in the entire last regular season. And he’s feeling significantly more comfortable as the Clippers head into the second quarter of this season. “I’m feeling a lot better,” Harden said. “My role has changed. You know, I haven’t had this role in four or five years. So it just took some time to get there. But you can see us, I’m getting better and better every game… At some point I’ll work much more efficiently and lose fewer balls,” said Harden. “But you know, at this point it’s just about finding ways to win games. That’s the most important thing, and especially now that Norm is back, it’s made my job a lot easier. So tonight is one of those games where you find a way to win and that’s what matters.”