Thunder vs Clippers Picks, Prediction Today | Tuesday, Jan. 16

Here's everything you need to know about Thunder vs. Clippers on Tuesday, Jan. 16 — our expert prediction and betting picks for today.

Intro.

Let's get to our Thunder vs. Clippers prediction and pick.

The Oklahoma City Thunder enter this game on the second leg of a road back to back, after losing to the Lakers 112-105 on Monday night. This back to back is slightly abnormal because there is no travel between games, as the Lakers and Clippers play in the same arena. The result of the travel-less B2B usually means the away team is more willing to play all of their players and forego rest DNPs. But, we are clearly seeing January is the slog month of the NBA and teams are deviating from normal tendencies in an effort to just make it through. Despite Oklahoma City being youthful and generally opting not to rest players on back to backs, the early line movement indicates we may not see the Thunder at full strength. Read on about how to use this to properly time the best bet!

While the Thunder enter this game on the second leg of a road B2B, the Clippers' schedule presents a strong juxtaposition that is worth playing into. The Clippers are home and rested after last playing Sunday against the Timberwolves. We also have a complete awareness of the expected injury report for the LA side, as they will be missing Ivica Zubac but otherwise at full strength. The combination of Kawhi/PG/Harden looks like an elite on court fit, the shooting presence of Powell and Mann are bringing a great spacing element, and the rim running pick n roll game from Theis/Plumlee with Harden as the ball handler have all been dominant sets. The Clippers can attack you on all three levels, and facing this team without preparation for OKC will prove to be a very tough task.

Determining the best way to play this game comes down to understanding the importance of NBA betting numbers and being aware of the final injury reports that will come out during early afternoon shoot around. The spread opened at Clippers -4.5 and is quickly being bet out to -5 or even -6 starting to show up. If OKC lists their players as active, this line will start to come back closer to the 5/4.5, and be worth a play on the spread. However, if we do get injury news and some questionable Thunder players, the line will push out to 6.5 or 7, and at that point I would rather play the moneyline. This is because 7/5/6/8/3/4 are the six most common outcomes in NBA games, so if the line moves further, we lose winning results on frequent NBA scoring outcomes. When I play a ML after movement, I stick with my standard 1unit of risk and just bring home less return.

Pick: Clippers -5 or Clippers ML -185