Lakers vs. Clippers second bold prediction: Wayne Ellington becomes the unlikely hero
Avery Bradley is not going to play in this game and that is going to free up some minutes for the backcourt. The favorites to get some of those minutes is probably Austin Reaves and Talen Horton-Tucker. One of those players deserve it, the other does not.
One player that should be playing more is Wayne Ellington. Sure, his defense is less than ideal but he is the third-best three-point shooter on this team this season and could create a lethal shooting lineup next to Malik Monk and Carmelo Anthony with LeBron facilitating.
Frank Vogel is at the point where is has to start experimenting some more and this game is a good chance to give Ellington more minutes next to guys that he typically would not play next to. Nobody is asking for Ellington to get 30 minutes a game, but he should be getting more than the 18.9 he is getting.
There have been a handful of games where Monk or Carmelo are absolutely firing from beyond the arc and become the Robin to LeBron’s Batman with their scoring presence. With the Lakers needing to keep up with the Clippers’ three-point shooting, in this game, Ellington will be the surprise hero.
He likely won’t score 25 points like Monk and Carmelo have done this season but he is going to hit a handful of threes in big spots for the Lakers. He is averaging just 6.1 points per game and his season-high thus far is 16 points. The Lakers are 3-1 when Ellington scores in double figures and he will in this game, hitting five threes to finish with 15 points, again, coming in big spots.