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NBA Playoff Betting – (6) Spurs at (3) Clippers (Game 5)

Zack Garrison

by Zack Garrison in News

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:39 AM PST

San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Clippers (-2, 205 o/u)

Tied 2-2 through four games, both the San Antonio Spurs (2-2, 1-1 away) and Los Angeles Clippers (2-2, 1-1 home) will look to take the all-important Game 5 tonight when they square off at the STAPLES Center (10:30 PM Eastern).

After getting crushed in Game 3 on the road – losing by 27 (100-73) as four-point dogs – the Clippers showed a lot of resilience on Sunday, stealing Game 4 in Texas (114-105) thanks to a massive afternoon from Chris Paul; the point guard had 34 points and seven dimes in the win.

“We tried to come out aggressive, on both ends, offensively and defensively,” Paul told the team’s official website. “We’ve got to find a way to not let things like Game 3 happen for us, and respond like this. The great teams come out that way regardless, and hopefully we learned something.”

The Spurs didn’t choke on Sunday; they were simply outplayed by a Clippers team that was on fire from the floor, shooting 54-percent.

San Antonio’s bench had been the difference maker in the series, but with Austin Rivers showing up in a big way for the Clippers in Game 4 (16 points on 7/8 shooting), that advantage went away.

For the Spurs, the health of point guard Tony Parker will be key going forward. The Frenchman has been dealing with an Achilles issue for about three weeks and aggravated it in Game 2. He was limited to 26 minutes in Game 3 and 29 minutes in Game 4, but should be at nearly full capacity tonight.

“He’s starting to feel a lot better,” forward Tim Duncan said. “It’s great to see him going to the basket, make some plays for us. That will pay big dividends for us with the rest of the series, something else they will have to game plan for.”

San Antonio’s championships have been forged in crucial games like tonight’s tilt; the Spurs are 23-8 in Game 5s since 1999; meanwhil, the Clippers are just 1-7 in Game 5s and 6s since 2012. That said, Los Angeles looked like a championship team on Sunday and return home – where they were a stellar 30-11 in the regular season – with confidence and laying just two points.

Pick: Clippers -2.

(Photo credit: By Verse Photography (Flickr: 20131118 ClippersvGrizzles31) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)

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