How crazy is the Western Conference? So crazy that the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Clippers – two teams that went a combined 27-3 over the last month – will meet in the first round of the playoffs, guaranteeing that one incredibly good team will immediately be knocked out. Crazy.
The Spurs barely missed out on the No. 2 seed – and home-court advantage – with a loss in the last game of the regular season. Will the Clippers make the defending champions rue that defeat by taking an early series lead? Read on for our preview of this heavyweight Western Conference match-up.
Get acquainted with the other first round series out West. Check out our Game 1 previews of the Warriors vs. Pelicans and the Rockets vs. Mavericks.
[sc:NBAArticles ]San Antonio Spurs vs. Los Angeles Clippers Betting Preview
Game 1: San Antonio (PK) at Los Angeles (PK); total 206.0, Sunday April 19, 10:30 p.m. – view all NBA lines
Game 2: San Antonio at Los Angeles, Wednesday April 22, 10:30 p.m.
Game 3: Los Angeles at San Antonio, Friday April 24, 9:30 p.m.
Game 4: Los Angeles at San Antonio, Sunday April 26, 3:30
Game 5 (if necessary): San Antonio at Los Angeles, Tuesday April 28 TBD
Game 6 (if necessary): Los Angeles at San Antonio, Thursday April 30 TBD
Game 7 (if necessary): San Antonio at Los Angeles, Saturday May 2 TBD
Betting on the San Antonio Spurs
Instead of resting up for the playoffs, the San Antonio Spurs played to win in their final regular season game against the New Orleans Pelicans with the hope of securing a No. 2 seed out West. But the Spurs lost, 108-103, which brought them all the way down to No. 6 and cost them homecourt advantage.
[sc:NBA240banner ]The Spurs are 22-19 on the road this season, but they probably won’t feel all too concerned about starting the playoffs in Los Angeles. That’s because San Antonio has been playing its best basketball of the season in the past couple of weeks. The Spurs went an incredible 14-2 (12-4 against the spread) in their last 16 games, including an 11-game winning streak that was snapped by the Pelicans in the final game.
During that run, the Spurs beat the Hawks on the road, the Mavericks, Grizzlies, and Warriors at home and the Rockets in a home-and-home series. In the last 15 games, not only did the Spurs have the second-best offense in the league (111.8 points per 100 possessions), they also had the best defense at 95.7 per 100 possessions, a good 3.2 points better than the next best team.
The emergence of Kawhi Leonard as one of the best two-way players in the NBA has been instrumental in this incredible run. Leonard is averaging 19 points (on 54 percent shooting), seven rebounds and 2.7 steals per game in his last 15 games.
Don’t be surprised to see head coach Gregg Popovich use his ace in the hole – Leonard guarding Chris Paul – for stretches during this series. Popovich also won’t be bashful in applying the “hack-a-DeAndre” when necessary in a close game. Plus, the incredible depth in his roster gives him the flexibility to alter his lineups, which the very shallow Clippers could struggle to counter.
Don’t be surprised to see some higher seeds fall in the West. Create a betting account now and profit from all the possible upsets in the NBA Playoffs.
Betting on the Los Angeles Clippers
The Spurs weren’t the only team that finished the regular season strong. The Los Angeles Clippers went on an incredible month-long run which will see them enter the postseason on a seven-game winning streak and a 14-1 record in their last 15 games (9-6 against the spread).
Granted, only four of those wins came against playoff teams – the Pelicans, Celtics, Blazers and Grizzlies – but still. The Clippers possessed the best offense in the NBA (112.8 points per 100 possessions) during that stretch, which is three points better than their league-leading season mark of 109.8.
The Clippers top four of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, JJ Redick and DeAndre Jordan have been playing out of their minds. Paul, Griffin and Redick are all averaging 20-plus points and shooting 50-plus percent from the field over their last 15 games. Meanwhile, Jordan has remained a force on the glass, averaging 16 rebounds per game.
The Clippers also have sixth man Jamal Crawford (15.8 PPG) back after he missed over a month due to a calf injury. The lineup featuring the big four plus Crawford scores a sizzling 119.1 points per 100 possessions, the best out of any five-man unit that’s played at least 200 minutes this season.
The Clippers have also shown they can score on the Spurs. They’ve averaged 114 points in their last three meetings this season, including 119 in a 119-115 win on Feb. 19 without Blake Griffin.
But the biggest question for the Clippers in this series – and in the entire playoffs – will be what they can get from their substandard supporting cast. The Clippers could be relying on significant minutes from Spencer Hawes, Hedo Turkoglu and Austin Rivers, notoriously bad defenders that the Spurs would pick apart.
Writer’s Prediction
The Spurs take away the Clippers’ home-court advantage with a 110-95 win. San Antonio also goes on to win the series in six games.
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