It’ll be a brief home reprieve in a stretch of road games for the Golden State Warriors as they return to the Oracle Arena on Saturday to host a Los Angeles Clippers that’s been juggling the losses of a number of key players. The Warriors—aside from a recent loss at Miami—are still cruising as the best team in the sport so they provide a particularly tough matchup for the Clippers given the timing.
At 8:30 p.m. ET, tune into ABC for live television coverage of this NBA basketball game on Saturday, January 28, 2017, at Oracle Arena.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Saturday schedule.
Odds Analysis
Since December 1, the Grizzlies are the only team to top the Warriors in Oakland as Memphis pushed Golden State into overtime. There’ve been a couple road losses since then, but this is a team that’s 20-3 SU at home.
Things haven’t been quite as easy ATS as Golden State is just 11-12 ATS at home, but that’s much better than their 20-24-1 overall mark.
The Warriors were the worst team to bet on this season for quite some time, but had seemingly turned the corner in that regard before their loss to the Heat. Before that they’d covered the spread in five straight games.
What had helped Golden State to cover was an improved defense. Sure, they were still scoring plenty of points, but the under has been paying off for those playing on the total going 7-1 in the Warriors’ last eight.
The Clippers have a slightly better ATS record this year than the Warriors, but are 1-3 ATS in their last four.
Injury Report
It’s been a season of adversity for the Clippers. The team lost Blake Griffin in mid-December, sending them into a tailspin where they lost six straight games before finding a way to win without the star forward.
Now, the team has Griffin back. He started his first game in more than a month on Tuesday, getting nearly 30 minutes on the floor. He was a bit rusty, shooting just 3-for-11, but still had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Unfortunately for the Clippers, while the return of Griffin is good news, they’re now dealing with an injury to Chris Paul. He’s missed the last four games with a thumb injury and the team is 1-3 SU and ATS in those four games—one with Griffin on the court.
There’s depth at the guard position behind Paul with J.J. Redick, Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford all scoring at least 20 in the team’s most recent game, but that did come against the 76ers and they did still lose that game to Philadelphia.
So, while the Clippers now need to figure out how to win without Paul, the Warriors are healthy. Their only missing piece is a role player, David West, who is easily replaceable.
Key Player
For Los Angeles, Griffin getting back to form is key in his second game back on the court. He’ll need to match up inside with Kevin Durant. Of course, on the outside, the Clippers will look to Redick, Rivers and Crawford to keep up with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.
Nevertheless, the real key to this game for the Clippers will be DeAndre Jordan.
Jordan is a rebounding machine. He nabbed 20 in the loss to the Sixers, his eighth straight game with at least a dozen and the sixth time since Christmas that he’s tallied at least 20 boards.
The talented center has been the model of consistency on both rebounds and blocks, helping to secure the basket inside the paint.
With Curry, Thompson, Durant and even Draymond Green, the Clippers are overmatched at nearly every position, except center where Jordan is a clear upgrade over Zaza Pachulia. Pachulia has had double-digit rebounds just seven times in 41 games and has recorded just a single block in his last nine contests.
The Warriors are fast-paced team that dominants in fast break points. To compete, the Clippers have to do it inside the paint. They’ll also need to limit the Warriors’ second and third chances with key, timely defensive rebounds.
Free NBA ATS Picks
The Clippers found a way to win without Griffin and they have some depth at the guard position so they should bounce back a bit without Paul, but that wound is still fresh and the Warriors are not a team you want to face shorthanded.
Look for the Clippers to look better than they did against Philadelphia, but Griffin will need more than a game to get back to full strength, further weakening Los Angeles’ chances.
Bank on the fast break leading the Warriors to victory, but Golden State will be heavily favored given Paul’s injury and their home court edge. Look for the Clippers to bounce back some and at least keep this game interesting for much of the contest.
NBA Odds: Warriors 121, Clippers 109
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