The Los Angeles Clippers shook things up a little bit at the trade deadline knowing they had to make a move to try to put themselves over the top in the West. The Clippers rolled the dice by dealing Lance Stephenson and a first rounder to the Grizzlies for Jeff Green who has always seemed to have more potential than he showed on the court. LA's first test with Green in the lineup is a doozy, a home tilt against Golden State.
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TRAVEL
The good news for the Clippers is this game comes at a very opportune time to catch the Warriors on a bad night. Golden St has to play in Portland the night before it plays LA and two days later plays cross-country in Atlanta. The Warriors have had some time to rest during the All-Star Break, but that is a killer travel stretch in just four days.
KEY MATCHUP
If you're thinking that Jeff Green might be some kind of killer against Golden St and that's why LA got him, you'd be totally off base. Green has played in two games, both with Memphis, against the Warriors this season and is just 1-for-10 in those two games for two measly points. He didn't play in just garbage time either, playing a total of almost 37 minutes and was completely ineffective in his time on the floor.
Green will have a better supporting cast in LA, but has to show he can hit the three in order to scare the Warriors.
Last year Steph Curry set the record for three pointers made in a season but it will be smashed this year by Curry and possibly surpassed by Klay Thompson. Curry is averaging almost five three pointers a night and is just 41 behind last season's record setting mark of 286. It's hard to fathom, but Curry is on pace to obliterate his own record by hitting over 100 three pointers more than he did last season.
Thompson has had a great shooting season as well and if he could pick up his pace a bit and get to 270, the Warriors will have the best four three point shooters in terms of shots made in NBA history. In any other season he'd get a lot more love, but Curry is so blazing hot right now that it's hard to give credit to anyone else.
LIVE BETTING SCENARIO
Golden St has been one of the best teams to back in the NBA all season, and that's especially true away from home. The Warriors are 18-9-1 ATS away from Oracle Arena on the season and have covered three of their last five road games despite some pretty high spreads. The over has also been a great play in Golden St games with it 18-10 overall.
The Clippers have been an average team ATS with a 25-25-3 record overall and 11-13-1 ATS record at home. LA lost outright as a double digit favorite the last time it played a home game, but will be an underdog in this one. The under is 14-11 in home games for the Clippers this season.
Jeff Green is a quality defender and may be able to take away some of the shooting ability of Klay Thompson but he just won't be able to do enough on the offensive end to have a real impact here. If the Clippers are going to have a chance, JJ Redick and Chris Paul will have to come close to matching the play of Curry and Thompson; if they can't it will be all Warriors.
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