Clippers vs Warriors NBA Handicapping
The air is out of the balloon and the Golden State Warriors won’t get a crack at breaking the Clippers’ long winning streak.
Los Angeles Clippers (25-6) at Golden State Warriors (21-10)
Wednesday, Jan. 2
Oracle Arena, Oakland
10:30 p.m. EST
Spread – Clippers -1.5
O/U – 200 at SportsBettingOnline.ag
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The Nuggets took care of that on New Year’s night in Denver, giving the Clips a 92-78 whacking that evoked memories of LAC teams of the previous decade.
So a trap game for the Clips this might not be on the table tonight, but they’ll still have their hands full with a Warriors team that knows a little bit about streaks themselves.
Golden State comes into this one with a modest three-game (Utah, Philadelphia, Boston) run, and over the first 38 percent of the NBA schedule also owns winning streaks of five games (all of those on the road, incredibly) and three games.
GS was no doubt hoping that it would catch the Clippers with LA riding an 18-game streak and perhaps looking ahead to the Battle of LA on Friday night when the Lakers and Clippers go at it at Staples Center.
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But even though there’s no shot of tonight being a trap game, the Warriors will certainly have the Clippers’ attention.
And anyone who has not been paying attention to the Warriors’ solid play this season might be surprised to know that unlike in past years these guys actually play a little defense.
In their last game they held the Celtics to 36 percent from the field (despite their woes, the Celts are shooting better than 46 percent from the field this season – sixth in the league).[ad-6571516]
During their three-game win streak, the Warriors have held their opponents to under 90 points. Used to be you weren’t trying if you didn’t have 100 on the Warriors by the middle of the fourth period.
Now it’s pulling teeth to hit triple digits.
A few years back the Warriors decided that it just wasn’t going to work with both Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis in the backcourt, so they cast their lot with Curry (Ellis was exiled to Milwaukee), stole David Lee from the Knicks and started building around them.
They struck gold, and still look forward to the return of center Andrew Bogut from ankle surgery. If and when Bogut comes back, it will be interesting to see if he gives them another force in the middle or merely sugars the gas tank and messes with the chemistry that has already been established.
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he last time these teams met, early in December, GS won a wild one (114-110) in a game in which seven technical fouls were called.
The Warriors have had three days off to rest and game plan for this one, so we’re liking Golden State to win in a game that should still be up for grabs in the final minute.
