Tonight two of the league’s best teams will square off as the Los Angeles Clippers take on the Houston Rockets. Both teams had major offseason acquisitions that should place them in contention for the championship this year. The Clips won’t be at full strength this game, but neither will the Rockets. Let’s see which undermanned squad has a better chance to win tonight!
Los Angeles Clippers (7-3) @ Houston Rockets (7-3)
Los Angeles
The Clippers are playing in yet another back-to-back, but this is the first of two games. This means that superstar Kawhi Leonard will be playing tonight, making them a much tougher outing. Despite missing their second star all season, LA hasn’t skipped a beat and has themselves in a great position for when Paul ultimately returns this week. Can they keep it up against the league’s best scorer tonight?
- Star Paul George is questionable for tonight’s game, but he will debut either tonight or tomorrow against the Pelicans.
- LA has won their last 2 games and are 4-1 in their last 5.
- The Clippers are just 1-2 on the road this year.
- The bench duo of Williams and Harrell continues to produce for LA, as they are combining to average 1 points per game.
- LA is a solid defensive team, ranking in the top 10 for lowest opponent scoring (9) and field goal percentage (43.4%).
- Their weakness is their poor 3-point shooting and sharing the ball. They are in the bottom 10 of the league for both statistics with 4% shooting from downtown and 21.6 assists per game.
- The Clippers have been a great cover team this year, covering the point spread in their last 5 games and are 7-3 on the season.
Houston
The Rockets definitely are not a fun team to watch, but you can’t deny that they are effective at what they do. This Houston lineup looks much better with Westbrook on the roster, but they’ll need contributions from other players if they want to make the Finals this year. Tonight’s matchup against the Clippers may very well be a playoff preview, so there’s extra pressure on them to win now.
- Eric Gordon will miss at least 4-6 weeks as he will undergo knee surgery.
- Houston has won their last 4 games in a row after losing 2 in a row.
- The Rockets are 3-1 at home this year.
- Despite poor shooting, James Harden is averaging 3 points and 8.3 assists. The downside is that it is on 40.7% shooting from the field and 29.8% from 3-point range to go with his 5.8 turnovers.
- Houston has a great offensive team, leading the league in points scored (3) and free throw attempts (30.1).
- On the other hand, their defense is definitely suspect as they are in the bottom 10 for opponent scoring allowed per game (4), field goal percentage (46.2%), and 3-point percentage (36.8%).
- The Rockets have been a poor cover team this year, although they have covered the point spread in 3 of the last 4 games. They are just 3-7 on the season.
Pick: Houston Rockets -1.0
As impressive as Los Angeles has been this season, they just haven’t been a very good road team. On the other hand, Houston has been solid at home and definitely have the advantage here. Nobody can slow James Harden down and now he has a fantastic running mate in Westbrook. You should definitely lay the points and bet on the Houston Rockets to win tonight.