Clippers and Warriors Win on the Road
The Los Angeles Clippers put the Phoenix Suns on the brink off the NBA Draft Lottery, a place most thought they would be anyway this season, with a 104-96 win in Phoenix on Tuesday. The win was the Clippers fifth straight as they improved to 42-10 on the season. The Suns dropped to 35-25 and now lead the ninth place Memphis Grizzlies by only a half game in the Western Conference playoff race. Matt Barnes led the Clippers with 28 points, 18 of them in the third quarter alone. Blake Griffin added 22 and Darren Collison 18 for the Clippers who will go “on the road” on Thursday in their home arena when they will play the Los Angeles Lakers. It will be interesting to see how many Clippers fans will crash the party as the Lakers seek to avoid finishing dead last in the Western Conference.
The last time the Lakers hosted the Clippers it was on opening night and the Lakers won that game 116-103. So perhaps they will take this game seriously on Thursday night. Griffin is becoming an offensive force as he matures. He is knocking down some shots other than spectacular dunks as he is hitting over 20 points per game on a regular basis.
The second place team in the Pacific Division is the Golden State Warriors. They are currently 4.5 games behind the Clippers at 37-24. They are sixth in the Western Conference standings, one game ahead of the seventh place Dallas Mavericks and only 1.5 ahead of the Suns and 2.0 up on Memphis. So they were between a rock and a hard place last night when they went on the road to face the team with the NBA’s best record, the Indiana Pacers. But Klay Thompson came to the rescue with 25 points including the game winner with less the 10 seconds to play. He had 16 of his 25 in the fourth quarter ans the Warriors handed the Pacers only their fourth loss at home all season.
Steph Curry had 19 points and three other Warriors finished in double figures as they won at Indiana for the first time since 2007. David West had 27 and Paul George chipped in 26 for the Pacers who still lead he East with a record of 46-14. The Miami Heat trail them by 2.0 games after dropping a nail biter to the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the Warriors will visit the Boston Celtics, the Sacramento Kings will be at the Milwaukee Bucks and the rest of the Pacific Division will be idle.
Sportsbook has the odds on these two games:
Golden State at Boston– The Warriors are -5 -115 and the Celtics are +5 -105 ATS. Moneyline is Warriors -225 and Boston +190. While the Warriors should experience some fatigue after last night’s big win, we still do not expect the Celtics to give them a problem. Take the Warriors -5 -115.
Sacramento at Milwaukee– We have a real clunker for you here. Could there be a worse match-up at this stae of the season as far as generating interest? But there are still wagers being placed and money won on this stinker of a game spends as well as any other. Sacramento is -3.5 -110 ATS and the Bucks are +3.5 -110. Moneyline has the Kings -150 and the Bucks +130. Let’s go with the Bucks at home in this one. Take Milwaukee +130.
