Editor’s note: This is the Wednesday, Aug. 10 edition of the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

Good morning. The Clippers won a game this week that had people saying, “That’s more like it.” But are they about to live up to their preseason hype?

First, news:

The Lakers and Celtics exchanged big runs before Boston prevailed in overtime.
LeBron James was a proud father watching Bronny and Sierra Canyon High (Chatsworth) win on national TV.
The Rams all but ruled out Cooper Kupp playing again this season but said Aaron Donald might return to action.
The Kings, in Buffalo, and Ducks, in Toronto, were beaten by a combined 13-0.
Lionel Messi led Argentina past Croatia and into the World Cup final;
France and Morocco play the other semi today.
And columnist Jim Alexander writes about becoming a Dodgers history buff in researching his book, “Dodgers! An Informal History From Flatbush to Chavez Ravine.”

Now, Clips: That was a pretty encouraging win over the Celtics at Crypto.com Arena on Monday, when the Clippers got 26 points from Paul George and 25, nine rebounds and six assists from Kawhi Lenoard, and led by as many as 24 on their way to beating the NBA’s best team this season, 113-93.

They’re 16-13 overall, sixth in the Western Conference with about one-third of the season gone.

But after that win they’re 6-2 in games where they have both Leonard, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, and George, who missed seven games recently with a hamstring strain.

“Monday night certainly reminded the rest of the league how dangerous the Clippers can be when healthy,” Janis Car, who covers the team for the SCNG papers, writes in this morning’s papers, noting that the Celtics were held under 100 points for the first time this season.

“I think it (beating Boston) was significant because it reminded folks who were growing frustrated of this team’s potential to be great,” Mirjam Swanson, who covered the Clippers before becoming a columnist this year, told me when I asked for her assessment. “But also, even a win like that is a part of the process.”

The Clippers started the season as second choices in Las Vegas odds (at +325, close behind the Warriors) to win the Western Conference, fourth choices (+662) to win the NBA championship, and second to the Celtics in over-under win-total betting (52½).

But it was natural to think the regular season could be rougher than projected, and that their potential lay in having their stars healthy and in sync for the playoffs starting in April.

Their inconsistent start has persuaded oddsmakers to drop them – slightly – to third choice to win the Western Conference (+450) and fifth to win the NBA title (+950).

Marc Stein, the Basketball Hall of Fame writer who started out with The Orange County Register and Daily News, ranked the Clippers 14th in the league this week in his Stein Line newsletter on Substack and wrote: “A cynic would say that we’ll see Steve Ballmer’s new arena in Inglewood open before we see his basketball team whole for an extended stretch. The Clippers are seemingly trying to adopt Golden State’s strategy from last season — just make sure to be healthy by the time the playoffs start — but are relying on that approach without years of experience, continuity and playoff history to lean on like the Warriors have.”

Swanson wrote in a column before the win over the Celtics: “As uninspiring as this part of the process is, as much slippage as the Clippers are experiencing – big leads, winnable games, their defense – they are at least finally getting to work at it. Whether they’ll have enough time (and whether they can stay healthy enough to keep at it), well, we’ll see, won’t we?”

As Carr reports, Clippers players didn’t necessarily see the Celtics game as a turning point. Leonard’s minutes remain limited and he doesn’t play both of back-to-back games like tonight’s and tomorrow’s. The Clippers’ schedule the rest of the way is, on paper, the second-hardest in the league.

So if the blowout of Boston represented improvement, they’re going to have to keep improving.

Tonight’s game against Minnesota and tomorrow’s against the Suns (16-12) are the Clippers’ second and third in a five-game homestand, to be followed by a five-game trip that takes them to Philadelphia (15-12) and a rematch with Boston (22-7).

After that, it will be 2023 and the regular season will be almost half over, and maybe then we’ll know how good these Clippers are and can be.

Or maybe those questions will remain unanswered until the spring.

Keep following Clippers coverage online here, by signing up for the Inside the Clippers newsletter here, and by following Janis Carr (@JanisCarr) on Twitter here.

TODAY

Clippers host the Timberwolves (7:05 p.m., BSSC, ESPN), who have lost six of nine and don’t have injured Karl-Anthony Towns.
UCLA, ranked No. 16, visits No. 20 Maryland (6 p.m., FS1), a future Big Ten rival, we are to believe. Bruins update.
UC Riverside has won five of six going into a game at Oregon on regional TV (6 p.m., Pac12N).
USC meets Long Beach State at the Galen Center (8 p.m., Pac12N). Trojans update.

NEXT QUESTION

If you’re a Clippers fan, are you more — or less — optimistic about their NBA title prospects than you were when the season began? Respond by email ([email protected]) or on Twitter (@KevinModesti).

280 CHARACTERS

“Player Dodgers fans love to hate on the team they love to hate.” – Bill Plunkett (@BillPlunkettOCR) responding to reports ex-Astros shortstop Carlis Correa signed with the Giants for 13 years and $350 million.

1,000 WORDS

Unstoppable: Argentina’s Lionel Messi scores the opening goal from the penalty spot past Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic during the South American team’s 3-0 win in the World Cup semifinal yesterday in Lusail, Qatar. Photo is by AP’s Frank Augstein.

LET’S TALK

Thanks for reading the newsletter. Send suggestions, comments and questions by email at [email protected] and via Twitter @KevinModesti.

Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

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