A battle between two California teams with playoff aspirations is going down on Thursday as the Warriors pay a visit to the Clippers. It won’t be too long now before the two LA teams have their own stadiums, and so then the Clippers can have a place they can call home and not a co-shared stadium with the Lakers.
Meanwhile, for Golden State, the fact that they are 19-18 is troubling and also exciting. It’s impressive in the sense that they added a lot of new players and have been playing without Klay. They are still trying to figure out rotations and things of that nature. It’s bad in that Stephen Curry and Draymond Green have played most of the games, and they’re barely over .500.
LA is 24-14 coming into this one, the record a bit down because they had a stretch of games where they played without Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. But everyone is healthy now, and the goal has to be getting a top-two seed in the West. If they can finish ahead of the Lakers, they can ensure enough “home games” to try and knock them out in an eventual matchup. Utah, at 27-9, is playing mega spoiler.
ODDS:
The spread for Thursday night is currently sitting at Clippers -7.5. The over/under is slated at 231.5 points.
Dubs Seeking Twentieth Win
Coming into action at 19-18, the Warriors have probably slightly exceeded expectations. Not the ones they had coming into the year, but the fact that they got blown to shreds in their first few games and then bounced back after folks around the NBA were having thoughts that the team was going nowhere and looked like the draft pick mattered more than the wins.
Steph is having an MVP season by all counts, though his chances of winning are slim to none. Andrew Wiggins has proven himself to everyone that thought he was just a waste of $30 million a year that he’s an elite defender and can score at will when the team needs it. And the energy of Kelly Oubre has been contagious.
When James Wiseman develops into a legit starting center, the team will be scary.
Clippers Looking for Win #25
There have been ups and downs in LA this year, which isn’t too surprising. They have had injuries, rotational questions and still do not have a single playmaking point guard on their roster. Rajon Rondo could have been a perfect fit, though given how poorly he’s played in Atlanta, perhaps they dodged a bullet.
Kawhi and PG are each averaging over five assists per contest, showing their ability to distribute it. Serge Ibaka has come in and looked good as the starting center. It gives them more room to work with on the wings and driving inside when a guy like Montrezl Harrell isn’t clogging the lane. It wasn’t a huge issue, but it is clear that Harrell had no jumper.
Let’s see if LA is up for the task out of the All-Star break.
Warriors Steal a Win
The Warriors are going on the road, and they’re doing so in style. They’ll get the win as Steph goes off.
FREE PLAY: WARRIORS +7.5
OVER/UNDER: OVER 231.5
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