Washington at LA Clippers
Time: 10:30 PM ET, Jan 29, 2014
Spread: LAC -8.5
M/L: LAC -400; WAS +300
Total: 207
Betting odds courtesy of Bovada
The Washington Wizards are currently 22-22 and sit 5th in the Eastern Conference, trailing 3rd seeded Toronto by just one game. The East is that bad; being .500 can net a third seed. The Wizards will take on one of the Western Conference’s tougher teams in the L.A. Clippers in a game NBA oddsmakers at Bovada are favoring the Clippers by 8.5-points.
The Wizards have been equally mediocre at home and on the road this season. Washington is 10-11 on the road this season and the Clippers are 18-3 at home. This disparity is a large part of why the NBA odds are so uneven in this contest. The Clippers still do it with offense to a large degree, ranking 3rd in the NBA in scoring (106.2 points per game), but the defense has gotten better this year under the direction of Doc Rivers. The Clips rank 14th defensively, allowing 100.0 points per game.
Blake Griffin will be making another start in the All-Star game, but Chris Paul lost out to Stephen Curry in the final days of voting. CP3 separated his shoulder on Jan 3rd and is going to be out another few weeks. Darren Collison is a very capable backup though, as he showed when CP3 went down during Collison’s rookie year in New Orleans. Collison posted 18 points and nine assists per game over a long stretch in which the Hornets were without Paul.
Blake Griffin has showed some diversification in his game and looks a lot more comfortable putting the ball on the floor this season. Griffin is averaging 22.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, and he has the perfect frontcourt mate in DeAndre Jordan who is leading the NBA in rebounding with 13.9 boards per contest, while also blocking away 2.4 shots per game.
The Clips have the wings flanked with excellent shooters in Jamal Crawford, J.J. Redick and Jared Dudley. And L.A. has some veterans whose roles could expand in the playoffs, like Matt Barnes, Willie Green, Hedo Turkoglu and Antawn Jamison. It’s unclear how much, if anything, Turkoglu and Jamison have to offer, but the Clips expended nothing in giving the guys a run.
Washington was able to get a confidence boosting win over Golden State last night, winning 88-85 behind 20 points from Bradley Beal. Beal has improved a lot in his sophomore season and the Wizards are hoping that the Florida product can pair nicely with Kentucky product John Wall. The tandem combines to average 36.9 points and 11.6 assists per game. It’s hardly the level of impact made by Golden State’s backcourt, but the Wiz defeated them and are a real threat to anyone in the East not named Indiana or Miami.
WAS Trends: 0-4 ATS in last 4 following SU win; OVER 11-2 in last 13 following ATS win; OVER 5-1 in last 6 Wednesday games.
LAC Trends: OVER 6-0 in last 6 games following SU win of more than 10 points; 5-1 ATS in last 6 playing on 1 days rest; OVER 13-3 in last 16 games vs teams with winning road records.
