This Sunday, NBA fans will be in for a whole-day affair of top-flight basketball action. Five games will be aired one after the other, beginning with the mid-afternoon showdown between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Cleveland finally appears to be in their best shape this season, while Los Angeles is trying to find some stable footing after a week of mixed results. Will the Cavs prevail once more over the Clips, or will the boys from SoCal come away with a quality in front of their fans at Staples? Let’s take a closer look at this star-studded matchup below.
In other hoops action, the NCAA tournament is also moments away from tipping-off. Find out where you can catch all of those intense collegiate battles from the Big Dance here.
In a rather bittersweet affair on Thursday, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, 120-108, in the final meeting between two of the NBA’s modern-day greats: LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.
While Bryant was indeed amazing that night (26 points, 11-of-16 shooting), James had 24 of his own for Cleveland to go with his five boards and seven assists to give the Cavs two-straight wins in their current four-game West Coast road trip.
Kyrie Irving, not James, actually led the team in scoring on Thursday. Irving had 26 points and nine assists, and is also averaging nearly 26 points per contest over his last four outings. However, it wasn’t just Uncle Drew who had a great game against the Lakers, as six Cleveland players in total had double-digit nights to pull away with the win.
And with the apparent chemistry that the Cavaliers have shown of late, they have now won four of their last five contests. Similarly, they have also won four of their last five meetings with the Clippers (SU/ATS), including a superb 115-102 victory at Staples in mid-January.
Look for James and Irving to have solid performances on Sunday afternoon once more; James had 22 points and 12 assists from that game against the Clips earlier in the year, while Irving added 21 points of his own.
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Betting on the Los Angeles Clippers (42-22)
It was tougher than expected, but the Los Angeles Clippers mustered enough mettle to come away with the 101-94 victory over the New York Knicks on Friday. Los Angeles nearly blew another double-digit lead at home before they prevailed with a crucial win.
The team will need to defend Staples against a more formidable opponent up next in the Cavs, and will need some positive momentum heading into a grueling five-game road trip with the likes of San Antonio, Houston, Memphis and Golden State on tap.
However, and as mentioned earlier, the Clippers lost pretty badly to the Cavs the last time they visited Staples. Then again, Chris Paul at least played his heart out that game, scoring 30 points and dishing out nine assists. And thankfully, Paul’s still playing at a high level of late, having scored 24 points and racking up 15 assists in the win over the Knicks.
Furthermore, CP3 is averaging 23.4 points while shooting 51.7 percent from the floor over his last seven contests. Then again, he cannot do everything himself if the Clips were to stand a chance and avenge their loss to Cleveland a couple of months ago. And without Blake Griffin’s services just yet, LA’s other key contributors have got to step up.
Can DeAndre Jordan pitch in from the paint more often? He hauled in 19 rebounds in the win over the Knicks, but only scored 10 points. Jordan also scored just 10 points to go with his 13 boards the last time he faced the Cavs, so he needs to go berserk from down low to give his team more scoring options for Paul to work with.
Writer’s Prediction
The Clippers exact payback from their previous loss at home to the Cavs with a solid 106-99 victory.
