Top NBA Pick for Today
NBA Pick: Clippers -2.5 (-108) at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review)
Picks Summary:
- Clippers -2.5 (-108)
- Over 235 (-110)
The Golden State Warriors have been terrible on the road and open a five-game trip Wednesday night at the Los Angeles Clippers in a potential playoff preview.
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Golden State Warriors vs. Los Angeles Clippers
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 – 10:00 PM EDT at Crypto.com Arena
The second game of an ESPN NBA doubleheader on Wednesday is a potential Western Conference playoff preview as Golden State visits the Los Angeles Clippers. This is also the only late-night game on the schedule – the other six all start between 7:00 PM-8:30 PM EDT.
If these teams do play again this season, it would be in the playoffs as Wednesday concludes the regular-season series. Golden State leads 2-1, but both wins were at home because that’s where the Warriors are still good.
The Clippers won their lone home matchup 134-124 on Valentine’s Day. Steph Curry missed that one for Golden State and has played in one of the three but is healthy now.
The over is 9-4 in the past 13 meetings in LA on the NBA odds, and I expect another high-scoring game.
Road Not Kind To Dubs
It’s almost baffling to me how professional basketball players earning millions of dollars can be so different depending on the gym.
At home, the Dubs still resemble NBA champions and are 29-7. They have won back-to-back impressive games in San Francisco at the Chase Center; 125-116 in OT over Milwaukee on Saturday and then 123-112 over Phoenix on Monday.
Yet on the road, the Dubs are 7-25 and have lost eight in a row. Their last away win was on Jan. 30 in Oklahoma City. Thursday is the first of five consecutive road games and likely will determine whether Golden State will finish in the West’s Top 6 or be headed to the play-in tournament.
At 36-33, the Dubs are fifth in the West thanks to a current tiebreaker win over the sixth-place Clippers – that head-to-head tiebreaker would vanish if LA wins this game as I expect.
Warriors Not at Full Strength
Steve Kerr remains without former All-Star Andrew Wiggins for personal reasons, and somehow the writers around the team haven’t disclosed what’s going on yet – probably at the team’s insistence.
Jonathan Kuminga has missed the past three with a sprained left ankle but is probable for this one. The former first-round pick had been playing a larger role recently, averaging 25.4 minutes per game.
Still, the Warriors will be a bit thin overall with Andre Iguodala out, and Anthony Lamb and Ty Jerome unavailable as both have reached their games limit on two-way contracts.
Golden State is averaging 118.2 points per game, second in the league behind Sacramento (121.3 ppg). The Warriors are also ranked fourth in three-point field goal percentage (38.4%). They have scored at least 40 points in a quarter 16 times this season and are 12-3 in those games.
The Dubs lead the league in assists per game at 29.6, but then they usually do because no offense is predicated more on precision passing in the NBA.
- The Warriors are 16-34-1 ATS in their last 51 road games.
- The Warriors are 0-3-1 ATS in their last 4 Wednesday games.
- The over is 15-7 in the Warriors’ last 22 vs. a team with a winning straight-up record.
Clips Are Well Rested
When it comes to the Clippers, you always have to check if they are in a back-to-back set because that may mean Kawhi Leonard and/or Paul George will sit, but LA has been off since winning a third straight game Saturday, 106-95 over the Knicks, and doesn’t play again until this Saturday in Orlando.
Look for Leonard and George to maybe sit there as the Clips fly across the country to face the Magic and then turn around and fly right back to the West Coast to visit Portland on Sunday. That’s weird.
Leonard has played at least 37 minutes in six of his past seven games and has four games with at least 30 points in that stretch, including 38 against the Knicks on Saturday. Since the calendar flipped to 2023, Kawhi has played in 25 of the Clippers’ 31 games and is averaging 27.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 36.3 minutes while shooting 52.8 percent from the field and 91.2 percent from the free-throw line. Those are MVP-caliber numbers.
Two career milestones were achieved against the Knicks: George made his 2,000th career three-pointer, becoming the 14th player in NBA history to achieve the mark (seventh active player); and Russell Westbrook moved into ninth place on the NBA’s all-time assists list.
Powell Injury a Concern
The Clippers are a deep team but remain without Sixth Man of the Year candidate Norman Powell due to a shoulder injury. He has been going through skeleton work and 1-on-1 work with assistant coaches before practices and games recently but won’t be re-evaluated until Friday. This season, Powell ranks first in points per game off the bench (17.2) among all NBA players.
Los Angeles has scored in triple digits in 27 of its past 29 contests and since Jan. 6 ranks sixth in the NBA in offensive rating (118.0) and fifth in three-point shooting (38.6%). This is a high total, but these teams also combined for 258 points the last time they played in LA.
- The Clippers are 27-8-1 ATS in their last 36 games playing on 3 or more days rest.
- The Clippers are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games following a straight-up win of more than 10 points.
- The over is 5-1 in the Clippers’ last 6 games playing on 3 or more days rest.
NBA Pick: Over 235 (-110) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
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