Clippers vs. Warriors Odds, Pick & Preview: Expect Points Galore Between Los Angeles, Golden State (March 8)

Clippers vs. Warriors Odds

The Los Angeles Clippers will travel to the Bay Area on Tuesday to square off against the Golden State Warriors.

Despite not having their two franchise stars for most of the season, Los Angeles enters this matchup with a 34-32 record and in eighth in the Western Conference. Golden State has had a great season up to this point as well, but has dropped four consecutive games and is just 2-9 in their last 11 outings.

Golden State has hit quite the rough patch, but many of their stars missed the front end of this back-to-back set because of rest. So, will the extra rest be all this team needs to take care of its division rival or will the Clippers give the Warriors another loss?

Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers have managed to win seven of their last 10 games, giving them some momentum as we head into the home stretch of the season.

During that span, their offense has been anything but special, but that’s an area of the Clippers’ game that has seen some improvement. Los Angeles has posted an Offensive Rating of 111.9 in their last 10 contests, which ranks 19th out of 30 teams but is a decent improvement from their rating of 107.7 this season.

The Clippers has also shot the ball at a much better clip in that span of time, shooting 48.3% from the floor and just over 40% from 3-point range. Even without Paul George and Kawhi Leonard in the fold, this team has proven it can find a rhythm and consistency on that end of the floor.

In addition, the defense hasn’t skipped a beat and continues to suffocate opponents.

Los Angeles has the eighth-best Defensive Rating at 108.3, and in its last 10 games the franchise has held foes to just 105.4 points per game l, while shooting 44% from the field.

In addition to George and Leonard, Norman Powell and Robert Covington will be sidelined for this key matchup. Powell has been out for the last several weeks, but the absence of Covington will complicate some things on the defensive end.

Golden State Warriors

For most of the season, Golden State has looked like the team of old that we have all seen for the better part of the last decade. However, nothing about the Warriors’ play of late has been impressive.

A loss to Denver on Monday marked the Warriors' ninth loss in their last 11 games, and now they sit in third place in the Western Conference. Their current slump has seen them fall from the No. 2 seed in the conference, putting them just three games ahead of Dallas for the No. 5 seed.

In that 11-game stretch, the Warriors’ downfall has been their play on defense, which for the majority of the season has been what has made them contenders.

This is a team that has posted an overall Defensive Rating of 105.9 through 65 games, which was the second best in the NBA. However, that rating has climbed to 118.1 during their slump, and they have surrendered an average of 116.9 points per game while scoring an average 112.4 points of their own.

Golden State is going to have to correct just about everything in order to get back on track, otherwise we could see them continue to plummet in the standings.

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Clippers-Warriors Pick

This is the second night of a back-to-back set for the Warriors, but luckily many of their stars didn’t make the trip to Denver on Monday.

In addition to the injuries to Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala, the Warriors held out Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins, which plays into their advantage coming into this game as those guys will be on fresh legs.

Even while significantly short-handed, Golden State put up 124 points on Denver, led by Jordan Poole's 32-point effort. However, the Warriors did surrender 131 points in the loss, further highlighting their deficiencies on the defensive end.

I expect somewhat-rested Golden State to come out firing in this game, but the defensive issues are still rather concerning. As a result, I believe Los Angeles will get plenty of buckets as well, leading to a high-scoring affair.

Pick: Total Over 220.5 (-110)