NBA Betting – L.A. Clippers at Houston Rockets
L.A. Clippers at Houston Rockets (-2.5, 215 o/u)
After losing to the Memphis Grizzlies (90-87) on Monday night, the Los Angeles Clippers will land in Houston to face the Rockets tonight at the Toyota Center (8:00 p.m. Eastern).
The Clippers will be playing their seventh consecutive game without star Blake Griffin (elbow surgery). The power forward – who is averaging 22.5 PPG – had his stitches removed Monday, but he’s still expected to be sidelined for another week at least, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Surprisingly, the Clippers have fared well without their leading scorer, going 4-2 straight up and posting wins over San Antonio, Dallas, and the same Rockets team they’ll be facing tonight.
In that most recent meeting between these two high-powered offenses (on Feb. 11), DeAndre Jordan had a monstrous double-double, scoring 24 points along with an incredible 20 boards.
Los Angeles head coach Doc Rivers sang Jordan’s praises after the game. “You play both sides of the floor. Just one end of the floor keeps getting all of the credit, but the other side is more important. There’s never been a team that’s won a title without being a decent defensive team. … DJ [DeAndre Jordan] knows that we’re playing for bigger things than All-Star games,” said Rivers.
Jordan won’t have the unenviable task of matching up with Houston cetner Dwight Howard tonight, as the Rockets big-man is still out with a knee injury. Howard has missed the last 12 games but, like the Clippers sans Griffin, the Rockets have managed to get results without him, going 8-4.
In the trends, the Rockets are 12-8 SU and ATS in their last 20 home games against the Clippers. But this will be the third meeting between these two sides this year and Houston is still looking for its first W.
The Rockets are 3.5-point favorites and the total is at a very high 215 points. With Griffin and Howard out, consider the under.
(Photo credit: Keith Allison (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
