We’re only a little over a week removed from the start of the NBA season, and two teams out in the Pacific have already come out blazing from the get-go. Both the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors are 4-0, but only one team on Wednesday night will get to keep its unbeaten streak intact.
Let’s take a closer look at what we should expect from this marquee Western Conference matchup below. For more coverage on Wednesday night’s NBA slate, check out our previews for Knicks vs. Cavaliers and Spurs vs. Wizards right after this.
[sc:NBAArticles ]Los Angeles Clippers vs. Golden State Warriors Preview
Where: ORACLE Arena, Oakland
When: Wednesday, November 4, 10:30 PM ET
Line: Los Angeles Clippers at Golden State Warriors – view all NBA lines
Betting on the Los Angeles Clippers
[sc:NBA240banner ]For all the attention that the Golden State Warriors are getting in the media about their unheralded start to the season, the Los Angeles Clippers have been quietly dominant themselves.
Through the first four games of the season, the Clippers have scored over 100 points in each of those contests. That may not be saying much, but Los Angeles’ offensive machine is operating like clockwork. Each starter on the team is playing their specified role extremely well, particularly Blake Griffin.
Griffin earned his second double-double of the season (22 points, 10 rebounds) in Monday’s 102-96 win over the Phoenix Suns. And in the games where he failed to get a double-double – two victories over Sacramento – he scored over 30 points instead. Oh, and Griffin is averaging an insane 62.2 percent from the field as well.
Another key player that has stepped up for the Clips is J.J. Redick. The nine-year pro out of Duke is doing all he can to add firepower to Los Angeles’ perimeter shooting, currently averaging a team-best 42.9 percent from 3-point range. But collectively, the Clippers are only shooting 27.7 percent from downtown.
Redick and the rest of LA’s perimeter shooters have to be totally locked-in if they go into a shootout against the red-hot Warriors on Thursday. The Clippers have lost nine of the last ten games played in Oracle Arena (2-8 ATS), with their lone win dating back to April of 2014 and by just a two-point deficit.
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Betting on the Golden State Warriors
Many experts were skeptical that the Golden State Warriors can keep up their unprecedented play from their 2014-15 championship-winning season, but the team seems to have actually gotten better this renewed campaign based on early returns.
The latest proof of Golden State’s return to excellence: Monday’s 50-point massacre of the Memphis Grizzlies. The 119-69 thrashing is the fourth-consecutive game that the team has put up over 110 points while winning by a double-digit margin.
Simply put, the Warriors are indeed the best team in the NBA right now due in large part to the best player of the young NBA regular season in Stephen Curry. The defending league MVP has scored 148 points in just 128 minutes of action behind 60 percent shooting from the field and 49 percent from downtown. Yes, that’s over one point per minute at such a mind-boggling efficiency ratio.
Not only is Curry scoring at will, but the team’s stingy defense from their championship run last year looks as formidable as ever. After limiting the Grizzlies to just 69 points on Monday, the Warriors are now the second-best team in the league in points allowed per 100 possessions.
And on that side of the ball, Draymond Green is Golden State’s unwavering anchor. When the runner-up to last year’s DPOY Award is on the floor for the Dubs, opponents are only shooting 36.6 percent from the field. To boot, players defended by Green himself are connecting at an even worse 33 percent clip. Having said that, Green’s Thursday night matchup with the Clippers’ Blake Griffin will surely be fun to watch and analyze.
Over the last 20 games played in ORACLE Arena, the Warriors have only lost two, and both of those were from last year’s postseason, where the competition is naturally elevated to a higher degree. However, they are only 10-10 ATS in that span, given how lofty the expectations are for the team to blow out its opponents.
Writer’s Prediction
Los Angeles becomes the next victim in Golden State’s tear through the league, 108-91.
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