LA Clippers vs. Golden State Warriors Preview, Odds, Prediction (Jan 8)

The Golden State Warriors and the LA Clippers will play their second of back-to-back matches this Friday at Chase Center. The first one ended with the guests winning, 108-101. Steph Curry was experiencing one pretty unusual night for his standards, with him delivering just 13 points. Meanwhile, the Clippers had both Kawhi and Paul George at the usual level, which is the main reason for their win. Having in mind that this is a divisional matchup, it has extreme significance, although the season is still early.

Preview

Golden State (+160) has four wins and four losses since the season started, and they look much better than during the previous year once Steve Kerr’s boys became a punching bag. Steph Curry is back, and even though he recently blasted the Trail Blazers with 62 points, the two-time MVP is still looking a bit rusty in some situations.

From our point of view, Steph is somewhere between 75 and 80 percent from his top shape. As time goes by, arguably the best shooter in the last 10 years will be even better and better, and we can expect to see even more unreal performances from his side. Curry averages 29.6 points per game with 6.3 assists, but hitting just 35.6% of downtown attempts.

One guy is very interesting, and that is James Wiseman, who plays only 21.3 minutes per game but is the first rebounder with 6 boards per match and posts 1.6 blocks, with 11.3 points. The No.2 pick at the recent draft indicated an enormous potential, and even though this might be a bold statement, he has the quality to become a worthy partner for Curry, and in some odd way, replace Thomson.

LA Clippers (-135) snatched the previous game because they made several threes in the match’s most important moments. The French veteran Nicola Batum knocked down two back-to-back inside the last three minutes. Even though he isn’t posting stats as before, Batum plays a very big role in the Clippers’ gameplan, because of his versatility on both ends of the floor.

Serge Ibaka’s arrival also made a huge impact. The Spaniard established himself as a reliable option in the offense, but added another layer of protection on the opposite part of the floor. Like Wiseman, he is the top rebounder 7 rpg and blocker 1.2 bpg but is very physical in controlling the glass and the paint.

Kawhi and George are the top two scorers with 24.6 and 23 points, respectively, starting the season strong right away. Leonard stated that he feels ready to play back-to-back matches this season, which is something he hasn’t done in a long time. We’ll see what Tyronn Lue has to say about that.

Head to Head Games

As said, the Clips won the game two days ago, 108-101. Leonard had 21 points, the same as George, but PG drabbed 12 boards as well. Ibaka also had a double-double – 12 points and 14 rebounds. Eric Paschall dropped 19 off the bench, the same as Andrew Wiggins had. Curry was 5-of-17 from the floor for 13 buckets.

Prediction

It is very unlikely to see Curry having another poor performance, and that is why we believe that the second match between these two sides would be more dramatic than the first. The spread on the hosts is +4, and we suggest betting on them to protect that. Those who are feeling lucky and willing to accept an additional dose of risk, go with the Warriors’ plain victory.