L.A. Clippers at Golden St.
Time: 9:30 PM CT (ESPN)
Spread: GSW -14.5
Total: 225
Odds c/o 5dimes
The Clippers (18-21) have thrived since the return of Blake Griffin. In his first three games since returning from injury, Griffin scored 24, 25 and 21 while averaging five assists over the span.
His playmaking is crucial with the subtraction of Chris Paul, but he is an adept passer and this Clippers team is playoff-worthy with his play as the paramount reason why.
HOUSTON NOTES:
Having already lost star point guard Chris Paul over the offseason, Los Angeles more or less handed the reigns of the team off to Griffin, who led it in assists at 5.1 per game prior to suffering the leg injury. Griffin is still out up to two months with what is being termed a sprained MCL, and the Clippers really have no offensive creators to step up in his stead.
To be sure, Austin Rivers (15.8 points per game) and Lou Williams (21.7 points per game) are both good bucket-getters, but neither offers much along the way of getting teammates involved, and Patrick Beverley is not known for that a lot either (2.9 assists per game), as the team’s floor general.
Really, the point-forward experiment with Griffin was all the Clippers had to muster a chance against more talented teams in the West, and for all that Danilo Gallinari spoke of the team having the league’s best frontcourt, it is almost devoid of playmakers to get those big men baskets.
Center DeAndre Jordan has suffered sans Paul, and Gallinari is finding it more difficult to get offense as a Clipper than he did during his tenure in Denver either. Between the two, they combine to average just 24.5 points per game, which makes
Griffin’s 23.5 per game still not enough. The Clippers put up 105.7 points per game as a team, which is respectable in today’s NBA, but the team is being obliterated defensively and surrendering just as many (105.7) per game.
Even with a premier rim protector like Jordan and a disruptor in the backcourt like Beverley, the Clippers have not found a way to form a coherent team defense, with missing rotations and lazy swings accounting for teams continually hurting L.A. from the perimeter.
The Clippers may trail No. 8 New Orleans by just 1.5 games at this juncture, but all of the teams ahead of Los Angeles (perhaps save cross-town rival Lakers) are better teams on the defensive end. Between not having a real formula for offensive success, but just a glut of talent and the team’s glaring defensive inadequacies make it difficult to envision much more than a first-round sweep at the hands of Houston or Golden State.
That actually sounds like just what a purist would expect, and only Griffin’s own fans?expected him to be able to carry the offensive load for an NBA team for a full season without serious injuries. He is an injury prone star, and the Clippers are now a strange collection of talents without his game-changing abilities on the court. It is not difficult to see why the team is six games below .500 with those woes clearly laid out before the reader.
DUBS NOTES:
Golden State has won eight of its past 10 to surge to No. 1 in the Western Conference, with Houston’s recent struggles.
The Dubs are getting another MVP-caliber season from Stephen Curry, who is totaling 26 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game with a team-high PER of 27.8. Last season’s Finals MVP Kevin Durant has been coasting somewhat, with 26.3 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Shooting guard Klay Thompson has rebounded from a down season a year ago to put his scoring average back over 20 points per game while shooting 46.8 percent from three-point range. Durant, too, knocks down a high clip on his triples (.396). The Warriors connected on 12.1 three-pointers per game while shooting 39.8 percent as a team.
One cannot ask for greater efficiency.
Despite 15.8 turnovers per game, the Dubs also rack up 30.6 assists and have a 1.9 Assist: Turnover ratio as a team.
The recipe, of course, leads to what the Warriors can boast of: The league’s highest scoring average at 116.1 points per game. Not to belittle the effort of the Warriors’ defense, despite that rapid and torrid pace, the Dubs hold opponents to 105.3 points per game, good for a differential of +10.8, the best in the NBA.
