For the second time in a week, the Los Angeles Clippers will get to test themselves against the cream of the crop in the NBA: the Golden State Warriors. The Clippers are still a bit diminished without Chris Paul, but they’ll hope to show better at home against the Warriors than they did on the road up in Oakland were Golden State controlled the game from the opening minutes.
Don't miss the hardwood action from the Staples Center at 10:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 2, 2017. Catch every moment of the game live on TNT.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Thursday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Warriors are back on track for a 70-win season with the huge win against Los Angeles earlier this week and the narrow win over Portland even without Stephen Curry on the court.
Golden State has also really picked up the pace ATS, covering in seven of its last nine games even with rather lofty spreads.
On the other bench, the Clippers have cost bettors over the past couple weeks and have covered the spread just once in their last five games. Interestingly, the over has paid out in three straight Clippers games, but is just 1-7 in the last eight for the Warriors.
Last Meeting
It hasn’t even been a week since the Warriors destroyed the Clippers up in Oakland, winning 144-98.
There’s a venue change for this game and the Clippers should be highly motivated for some revenge while it’s possible Golden State becomes a bit complacent. In the end, however, it’s hard to argue for a vastly different result given how masterful the Warriors were in controlling this game.
Curry went off in the game against a second string back court for the Clippers lacking Chris Paul.
Curry scored 43 points while getting off 23 shots and sinking 15 of them, including nine from three-point range. While he was on the court, the Warriors had a 42-point differential. In addition to his third 40-point performance of the year, he added six assists and nine rebounds.
The star guard, however, is dealing an illness that kept him out of Sunday’s action against Portland. He should be better by Thursday, but could be weak given it’ll be the second game for Golden State in as many days.
If Curry is out or limited Thursday, that obviously changes the complexion of the matchup, but even so the Warriors shot 62-percent from the floor against Los Angeles and even out shot them by 30-points inside the paint.
Player to Watch
DeAndre Jordan has to be a difference maker on Thursday for this game to produce a much different result than their matchup on Saturday night.
Jordan is an underrated star. He earned a selection on the All-Star team which actually resulted in some surprise, but he’s on his way to his third season atop the list of rebounders in the last four years and his fifth straight year leading the league in field goal percentage.
While Paul is out and Blake Griffin gets most of the love in the City of Angels, it’s Jordan wh has been this team’s rock. Jordan is also the one with the favorable matchup against Zaza Pachulia. Nothing against Pachulia, but Griffin has to contend with Kevin Durant while J.J. Redick will have Klay Thompson and likely a recovered Curry on the floor.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Jordan didn’t deliver in the blowout loss to the Warriors earlier this week. He did shoot 4-for-4 with eight points, but had just five boards while the Clippers at a -27 differential with him on the court. Sadly, that was actually better than the rest of the starts other than Austin Rivers.
At the end of the day, the Warriors at 16 more rebounds than the Clippers. That cannot happen again.
Jordan has 13.8 RPG and had eight straight games with at least 12 boards before the five on Saturday.
Jordan needs to be better on the boards on Thursday and needs to be a bigger part of the offense, too, as there’s no doubt the fast-paced Warriors will rack up the points and the Clippers will need a dependable shooter inside to get a few more shots.
Free NBA ATS Picks
Even without Paul and a still rusty Griffin, that loss to the Warriors was a tough one for the Clippers. The question now is: how will they bounce back?
They’ll be better. Griffin looked good matched up against Draymond Green and Jordan should have a better game, too, but the Clippers are still comparatively weak on the outside where the Clippers will take advantage.
Curry looks like the back-to-back MVP winner again and that’s dangerous, particularly with so many other weapons on the court—and the bench—for Golden State.
In the end, the Warriors insane ball movement, top-tier shooting and excellent transitions will help them pull away rather easily against a still banged up Clippers team. Don’t look for them to win the rebounding battle again, however, and that’ll at least allow the Clippers to avoid total embarrassment for the second time in a week.
NBA Odds: Warriors 119, Clippers 108
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