The Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers are battling for playoff positioning in the Western Conference. They’re just not where they hoped they’d be at the start of the season. At least the Clippers have an excuse being without their top two players. Kawhi Leonard hasn’t played a game while Paul George was shelved around Christmas. Still, the Clips hold a slight edge over the neighborly rivals and carry a five-game winning streak over LeBron and Co. into Friday’s showdown.
The NBA matchup between the Clippers and Lakers takes place on Friday, February 25, 2022 and will air live on ESPN with tip off at 10 p.m. ET Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA. BookMaker.eu will have betting options for every game on the NBA schedule.
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Odds Analysis
The Clippers closed the first half on a nice little run going 3-1 SU and 4-0 ATS to get within a game of .500 at 30-31. It’s actually quite an accomplishment considering what the team has gone through this season. And playing without Leonard and George you’d expect some hiccups along the way. This biggest issue has been finding consistency with players moving around and more pieces added at the deadline. While LA is still the Lakers town, the Clips are making a move to change that. They stretched their winning streak over the Lakers to five with a narrow 112-111 victory earlier this month, but failed to cover the 4-point line for their first ATS loss in the last six meetings. Overall the Clippers are a 30-31 ATS this season.
In what can only be described as a disappointing season for the Lakers, at least the first half ended on a positive note with a 106-101 triumph over Utah ending a three-game losing streak. While they haven’t been particularly good on the floor winning just three of their past seven games, they’ve been good to their backers with a 5-2 ATS mark in that span. Having James and Anthony Davis on the floor together has been challenging and the duo got split up again with AD sustaining an ankle injury in the Utah game. He’s expected to be out a month giving Russell Westbrook more opportunities to break out of his season long slump.
Los Angeles Clippers
After their recent stretch you have to take the Clips seriously. Following their narrow win over the Lakers at the start of this month, they went 3-4 in a grueling 7-game slate with losses to Milwaukee, Memphis, Dallas and Phoenix. All of those teams have at least 35 wins with Phoenix and Memphis two of NBA’s three 40-win teams. And speaking of the 40-win teams, the Clips beat Golden State for one of their three wins over that current span. They also knocked off the Mavs and blasted Houston 142-111 in their last outing before the break.
With Kawhi and PG 13 shelved the Clips have gotten contributions from a lot of players. Three guys scored at least 20 points and seven reached double figures in their win over Houston. Luke Kennard was particularly dangerous hitting 8 of 9 three-pointers for 25 points. Marcus Morris Sr. scored 27 points in 25 minutes and Terrance Mann added 20 as the Clips shot 55 percent from the field and made 18 of 35 triples.
Los Angeles Lakers
Apparently LeBron had his feelings hurt when the Lakers didn’t make a move at the trade deadline. It’s not like the team has been shy about adding and replacing players at any time, but for a team stuck in a rut not making a move seemed odd. It’s not as easy as it sounds, though, especially when the guy thought to be traded hasn’t lived up to his huge contract. So now the Lakers have an unhappy James, underperforming Russell Westbrook and will be without AD for several weeks. That’s not a good look for a team that was a preseason favorite to win title.
James is setting the table for an LA exit saying over All-Star weekend that a return to Cleveland isn’t out of the question. And while he continues to play at a high level averaging over 29 points, 7.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists, is he going to go all in for the remaining games? That’s a question only he can answer
Clippers at Lakers NBA Odds Pick
The Lakers have been a hot mess all season with injuries, poor play and turmoil torpedoing the season. Sure they can make run in the second half, but they did nothing at the break to change an underachieving squad. And with Davis out things look even worse. The Clips don’t have the big names in their lineup, but they are sticking together as a team and that helps them to another W over their neighbor from across the hall.
NBA Odds Prediction: Los Angeles Clippers / OVER
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