Toronto at L.A. Clippers

Time: 9:30 PM CST, Mon (NBA TV)

Spread: LAC -9.5

Total: 222.5

Odds c/o 5dimes

The Los Angeles Clippers are 6-3, but many are already speculating this may be the team to emerge from the Western Conference in June. It has been without superstar Paul George, who is expected to return soon. Kawhi Leonard has missed games due to “load management,” but the eye test with the Clippers reveals one of the deepest and best defensive teams in basketball.

It will host the defending champion Toronto Raptors as 9.5-point favorites according to NBA oddsmakers at 5dimes. The game will air as the second half of an NBA TV Doubleheader, and the point total is set at 222.5 points according to 5dimes.

LAC

The Clips have won three of its last four, including last game’s 107-101 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. Even so, it trails the Lakers by a full game in the division standings. It is just that this team has so many weapons, and its defense is elite. Leonard averages 29 points per game in just 30 minutes a night while posting a silly high PER (Player Efficiency Rating) of 31.86.

Veteran Lou Williams is timeless, and the veteran ranks No. 2 on the team in scoring at 22.4 points per game. Not to be forgotten is the other big scorer off its bench, one Montrezl Harrell. Harrell is quietly (if such a thing can be said) averaging 20.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while posting his own very high PER f of 28.10.

Those three score 20-plus points per game scorers comprise most of the offense for the Clips, but the team has another four players averaging between seven and ten points per game.

There is so much depth on this roster, and the Clips have turned several journeymen into very productive players, including JaMychal Green and Patrick Patterson. The pair is a good combo at the 4-spot, given Patterson’s mid-range jumper and Green’s intense defense. The duo complements one another well, but that really can be said running through the roster: The parts all fit together very well. Now, with George returning to the lineup and all systems go, we are about to get a chance to see just how good this Clippers team can really be.

TOR

The Toronto Raptors were expected to crash and burn after losing superstar Kawhi Leonard to its opponent tonight, but that has hardly happened. Toronto is 7-2 and has won three straight. The Raptors sport the leagues No. 8 offense, averaging 115.2 points per game while holding opponents to 107.7 (No. 21). Toronto has dominated the glass, averaging 47 rebounds per game.

Much of the credit for Toronto sustaining its excellence after losing one of the game’s best two-way players in Leonard has to go to Pascal Siakam. He is coming off winning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, and his per-game averages are up across the board: 27.4 points per game, 9.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.2 blocks/steals per game.

All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry has been his usual good and consistent self, and perhaps what has really enabled Toronto to maintain—even more than Siakam’s emergence—is that Fred VanVleet is becoming an assassin now that he is in the starting lineup. VanVleet is averaging 16 points and 7.7 assists per game. He has helped take off some of the playmaking pressure from Lowry, while essentially giving the Raptors a second starting point guard. It has worked well.

Serge Ibaka has been a consistent source offense and rebounding, while OG Anunoby is having a rebound year after a tough sophomore campaign a year ago. Anunoby is averaging 13 points and 6.2 rebounds per game while playing 33.1 minutes per night. The elephant in the room may be Marc Gasol, whose decline as a player is becoming more and more evident. He is only averaging 6.3 points and seven rebounds per game, and though the Raptors sometimes run the offense through him, he tallies just two assists per game.

The Raptors will tighten its rotation up to eight men likely by the postseason unless Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Patrick McCaw become bigger factors. Both have been something of a disappointment in the second unit, but with so many other things going right, the Raps are still an Eastern Conference contender of sorts, though its chances of repeating as champions is rather slim.