Frank Lorenzo
Golden State Warriors (-6.5, 212.5 o/u) at Los Angeles Clippers
Just two weeks ago the Golden State Warriors (12-0, 5-0 Away) and the Los Angeles Clippers (6-4, 5-1 Home) met at Oracle Arena in an epic game that quickly became an instant classic. After a great first meeting, round two goes tonight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles (10:30 PM Eastern).
Each team entered last meeting unbeaten after four games; but things have changed a lot since. After the Warriors 112-108 win over LA, the Clippers have dropped four of the last six, as several injuries have hampered them early this season.
Despite entering the this game with five days of rest; Chris Paul (groin) and Redick (back) are listed as doubtful to play against the Warriors. Los Angeles, does boast come quality depth though. In their last outing, the Clippers beat the Detroit Pistons 101-86 as Jamaal Crawford had 37 points on the night starting instead of Redick.
“We just needed to win,” said Crawford after the game. “I never really lose confidence in myself.”
Coach Doc Rivers will insert Crawford and Austin Rivers into the starting lineup as they try to hand the Warriors their first loss of the season.
Golden State remains unbeaten after 12 games, and it doesn’t look like they will be slowing down anytime soon. The Warriors beat the Toronto Raptors 115-110 on Tuesday behind 37 points from Steph Curry.
Curry has been the scoring leader of his team in 11 of the 12 games they have played. He averages 33.7 points per game this season and is shooting 52.1 percent from the field.
“We hold ourselves to a very high standard,” Curry said after beating Toronto at home. “We didn’t put any pressure on them defensively in the third quarter, we were sloppy on a couple of possessions offensively and gave them life. Those are things we need to improve on. Everyone likes to learn those lessons in wins.”
The LA Clippers are 1-4 SU in their last five games when playing Golden State and for the first time since 2010 they are home dogs to the Warriors.
Pick: Warriors -6.5.
(Photo credit: 2O (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
