Sometimes the Golden State Warriors can seem like a predator playing with its prey and if Game 1 was any indication, we could see a repeat performance in Game 2 vs the Los Angeles Clippers. The Warriors dominated the opener on both ends of the floor and Stephen Curry poured in 38 points to lead the Dubs to a 17-point win. The Clippers will look to regroup but have only won one game at Oracle Arena in their last 15 tries.
The Warriors opened as 13.5-point favorites with a total of 231.
Clippers vs Warriors Game Center
STANDOUT STATS
- The Warriors looked like the Warriors in Game 1 by limiting the Clippers to 104 points and 40 percent shooting from the floor and were a treat offensively by hitting 46 percent from behind the arc. Steph Curry had 38 points while hitting eight of 12 three-point attempts and all of Golden State’s starters scored in double figures.
- Continuing with that point, the Warriors had started to show glimpses of that high level of play coming into the postseason as they averaged 121 points in their final 10 games of the season while shooting 52.4 percent from the field. They also were stellar defensively in that same stretch by limiting their opponents to 108.3 points per game (ranked eighth) and were first in the league in opponent shooting percentage (42.2 percent).
- The Clippers may need to reconfigure their game plan as running a 10-man rotation in the playoffs will be difficult against a veteran team like the Warriors. The starters only managed to score 37 points in Game 1 while the bench scored 67, led by Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell.
- The Clippers offense had been fairly reliable in road games this season, averaging 112.4 points per game and shooting 39 percent from behind the arc on 24.7 attempts. In Game 1, they only shot 36.7 percent on 30 attempts and need to find a way to limit the Warriors’ effectiveness from behind the arc. The Clippers were fifth in the NBA in opponent three-point percentage during the regular season (34.3 percent).
- Although they didn’t cover in Game 1, the Clippers were a decent cover bet when tabbed as a double-digit underdog at 3-0-1 ATS in four games during the regular season. Conversely, the Warriors were 17-13 ATS in 30 games this season as a double-digit fave and 11-12 ATS in 23 home games in that spot.
- Coming into the postseason, UNDER bettors were making bank off of Clippers and Warriors games. The UNDER has hit in 17 of the Clippers’ last 24 road games (avg. combined score: 222.8) while the UNDER has also hit in 17 of the Warriors’ last 22 games (avg. combined score: 222.5).
My Best Bet for Clippers vs Warriors
UNDER 231
I just can’t bank on the Clippers offense to get enough points to feel good about taking an OVER because their schtick of having a 10-man rotation doesn’t seem to work in the postseason. Typically, teams shorten their rotations to eight players in the playoffs, which means star players are on the court for an extended period of time so the Clippers’ second unit won’t be able to feast on backups.
I think the Clippers will make defensive adjustments to limit the Warriors’ ability to shoot the three but that’s obviously easier said than done. I think oddsmakers are using totals from the regular season when setting the line and in playoff basketball, the pace can grind to a halt. I’ll bank on the UNDER in this one and hope the Warriors defense isn’t just a Sportsbook.
