Warriors vs. Clippers Spread Prediction The Golden State Warriors have won eight of their last 10 games and will take on an L.A. Clippers squad on Friday night that has dropped six of their last 10 games. Will the Warriors cover as a road favorite when these Western Conference foes tip off at 10:30 p.m. ET? Game Snapshot 565 Golden State Warriors at 566 Los Angeles Clippers 10:30 p.m. ET, January 17, 2019 Staples Center, Los Angeles, California Our NBA Live Odds page pulls spreads and totals from multiple different online sportsbooks so you can compare betting odds to ensure you’re getting the best line. Public Betting Trends According to oddsmakers from online sportsbook BetNow.eu, the Warriors are 6-point favorites to beat the Clippers. The total, meanwhile, sits at 241.5 points and as of this writing, 74% of the public betting tickets wagered at online sportsbooks are on the Warriors to cover the point spread. Golden State Warriors Fantasy Spin Kevin Durant pulled down a season-high 15 boards against the Pelicans on Wednesday, adding 30 points with four assists, two steals, one block and five 3-pointers in 38 minutes. It's his 16th 30-point game of the season and sixth 30-10 on the year. Durant has also made five-plus treys in back-to-back games for the first time this season, and his blocks are back on the rise with at least one in every game in 2019. It'll be interesting to see how KD's usage is affected with DeMarcus Cousins in the mix, but KD is doing enough in other areas to soften the potential blow of Boogie's return. He is a top-five player in fantasy leagues. Los Angeles Clippers Fantasy Spin Avery Bradley finished Wednesday's game with 15 points, three rebounds and one assist in 25 minutes, making 6-of-10 shots with three 3-pointers. With an Orwellian flourish, coach Doc Rivers said over the weekend that Bradley is "un-statable" -- meaning his impact on games can't be gauged by statistics. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, stats are explicitly how Bradley and all players are judged, and by that metric he's been awful with 7.4 points on 37.7% shooting and a negative impact in almost every category. He's on your waiver wire for a reason. NBA Betting Trends Golden State The Warriors are just 1-4-1 against the spread in their last six games after scoring more than 125 points in their previous contest. Los Angeles The Clippers have covered the spread in six of their last seven home games when facing an opponent with a winning road record. Prediction The road team has covered the spread in seven of the last eight meetings between these two teams and the Warriors have covered in four of their last five road games versus the Clippers. Golden State is 3-1-1 against the number in its last five games coming off a win and is 3-1-1 ATS in its last five games overall. On the other side, the Clippers have failed to cover in five of their last seven home games, are 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games coming off a loss of more than 10 points and have not covered in four of their last five games coming off a loss of any margin. Friday NBA Prediction: Golden State Warriors -6<doc-sep>Summary: The Clippers started off the game looking solid, if not exceptional. They were moving the ball, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the charge in attacking the basket. Unfortunately, the defense, while not horrible, was allowing the Warriors too many drives of their own. They got tons of easy looks, with Steph easily able to shake off Bradley’s pesky defense for a couple wide-open threes. The Clippers’ bench started coming in, and noticeably missed Lou Williams, but hung in due to a couple triples from Tobias Harris and two midrange jumpers by Bradley. With Lou out, Shai started the second quarter with the usual bench unit. The Clippers once again had decent enough execution, but Ty Wallace and Pat Beverley had rough stints, both turning the ball over and missing shots at the rim. Montrezl Harrell struggled as well, lacking the easy buckets he usually feeds off of in the pick and roll with Lou. However, the bench’s defense was solid, and the Clippers hung in. The rest of the quarter saw an extremely aggressive Shai and a confident Harris do all the scoring for the Clippers, keeping the Clips in it despite a lack of firepower. The defense was more fortunate than strong, as the Warriors missed several open threes, and the lead could easily have been 10 rather than 1 at half. Unfortunately, as it has so often this season, the wheels came off in the third quarter. Tobias, feeling the pressure of being the team’s primary scorer, forced things, Bradley failed to contribute, and Gortat missed two free throws. Turnovers began to mount, and the Warriors got easy bucket after easy bucket. The Warriors went on a 17-4 run overall, and the game seemed over. However, the Clippers clawed their way back behind some extraordinary play from Shai, who took matters into his own hands with a series of drives and jumpers. The Dubs lead was down to six when Steph took over, scoring in a variety of ways, and extending their advantage back to double digits. Late in the quarter, Doc Rivers made the curious decision to insert Boban Marjanovic and Johnathan Motley, much to the delight of the crowd. The Clippers, somehow, only trailed by nine entering the 4th quarter. Doc Rivers started the 4th quarter with a Ty-Beverley-Jerome-Motley-Boban lineup, and people on Twitter thought he was essentially writing the game off. It was clear he wasn’t doing so, but trying to buy time for his starters. This gambit failed, as the Clippers failed to score, while the Warriors buried three threes, essentially ending the game. The Clippers’ starters came back in, but couldn’t make any headway against a furious Warriors’ defense, and the rest of the game was not much more than garbage time. Eventually, the Warriors won 112-94. Notes: Shai has himself a game: After struggling for several weeks, Shai had one of his strongest performances of the entire season, perhaps his very best. Given extended minutes with Lou Williams out, Shai played with more confidence and aggression than we’ve seen in a while, continually attacking the basket and getting to his spot in the midrange. He was aggressive on mismatches, had several gorgeous passes, and played fantastic defense on Klay Thompson , largely keeping him under wraps. While 42 minutes was probably too much for Shai, he clearly deserves more p laying time than he’s been receiving lately: part of the reason he’s struggled is that his playing time has been cut, not the other way around. He will have his ups and downs for sure, but he’s just too good to get less than 25 minutes a game. After struggling for several weeks, Shai had one of his strongest performances of the entire season, perhaps his very best. Given extended minutes with out, Shai played with more confidence and aggression than we’ve seen in a while, continually attacking the basket and getting to his spot in the midrange. He was aggressive on mismatches, had several gorgeous passes, and played fantastic defense on , largely keeping him under wraps. While 42 minutes was probably too much for Shai, he clearly deserves more p laying time than he’s been receiving lately: part of the reason he’s struggled is that his playing time has been cut, not the other way around. He will have his ups and downs for sure, but he’s just too good to get less than 25 minutes a game. Tobias does his best: While Tobias was largely ineffective in the second half, his first half was exceptional, as he poured in 20 points on great efficiency to keep the Clippers in the game. While his shot deserted him in the second half, and the Warriors swarmed him, he maintained aggression, and got to the line an impressive 12 times. He’s not a superstar, but he played well tonight under tough circumstances, and the Warriors were clearly hell-bent on stopping him. While Tobias was largely ineffective in the second half, his first half was exceptional, as he poured in 20 points on great efficiency to keep the Clippers in the game. While his shot deserted him in the second half, and the Warriors swarmed him, he maintained aggression, and got to the line an impressive 12 times. He’s not a superstar, but he played well tonight under tough circumstances, and the Warriors were clearly hell-bent on stopping him. Everyone else no-shows: After Tobias and Shai, the Clippers’ next leading scorer was Johnathan Motley , who had seven points in garbage time. Avery Bradley went 3-13 from the field, Montrezl Harrell was 2-6, and Pat Beverley was 0-4. Lou Williams ’ ability not just to create for himself, but also for his teammates was resoundingly felt tonight, but that doesn’t excuse the poor offensive showings by other key Clippers. While Lou is out (at least the next two games), the Clippers desperately need these guys to show up and provide at least double-digit scoring efforts. Tonight, they got nowhere near that. After Tobias and Shai, the Clippers’ next leading scorer was , who had seven points in garbage time. went 3-13 from the field, was 2-6, and Pat Beverley was 0-4. ’ ability not just to create for himself, but also for his teammates was resoundingly felt tonight, but that doesn’t excuse the poor offensive showings by other key Clippers. While Lou is out (at least the next two games), the Clippers desperately need these guys to show up and provide at least double-digit scoring efforts. Tonight, they got nowhere near that. A glimpse at the future: While the blowout loss wasn’t a great way for it to happen, Clippers’ fans did get to see semi-extended minutes from young guys tonight. Motley played eight minutes while Jerome Robinson played seven, and both guys scored several times in ways that should be exciting for the future of the team. Particularly nice were Robinson ’s reverse layup cutting baseline on a beautiful dime from Shai, and Motley’s and-one after an offensive rebound. If the Clippers continue to slide, we might see more of the young guys sooner than later. While the blowout loss wasn’t a great way for it to happen, Clippers’ fans did get to see semi-extended minutes from young guys tonight. Motley played eight minutes while played seven, and both guys scored several times in ways that should be exciting for the future of the team. Particularly nice were ’s reverse layup cutting baseline on a beautiful dime from Shai, and Motley’s and-one after an offensive rebound. If the Clippers continue to slide, we might see more of the young guys sooner than later. Slide in standings: The Clippers have now lost five games in a row, four of those coming at home, and are now out of the playoff picture for the first time since early November. There’s plenty of season left to make up the difference, but any extended losing streak is costly in the West, and with injuries all of a sudden piling up, the Clippers need to hunker down and grit out some wins. The Clippers’ next game is Sunday morning at San Antonio, and they will definitely be without Lou for that contest, as well as the following game in Dallas.<doc-sep>
Betting Odds: Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Clippers Spread: Warriors -7 Over/Under: 241.5 Time: 10:30 p.m. ET >> All odds as of 3 p.m. ET. Download The Action Network App to get real-time NBA odds and track your bets The day the NBA world has been waiting for is finally here: DeMarcus Cousins will make his Warriors debut. What does his addition mean for the betting market and tonight’s spread and over/under? Our analysts answer. Betting Trends to Know With DeMarcus Cousins expected to return tonight, the Warriors have moved from 5.5- to 7-point favorites. Nearly 90% of spread tickets and dollars are on Golden State at the time of writing (see live betting data here). Since 2015, when we began tracking spread dollar percentages, if a team is receiving 30% or less of tickets and dollars and sees the line move one or more points against them (Clippers +5.5 to +7), they have gone 94-56-3 (63%) ATS. Plus, there’s this: Under Steve Kerr, when the Warriors receive 70% or more of spread tickets, they have gone 77-91-4 (45.8%) ATS in the regular season. — John Ewing History tells us tonight is going to be a close one. The Warriors have won six straight games; the Clippers have lost four straight games. Under Kerr, when Golden State has played a game in this spot (GSW on a six-game win streak, opponent on four-plus losing streak) 10 times, and the Warriors are 10-0 straight-up but just 4-6 ATS, with almost every single game coming within a few points of the spread. — Evan Abrams The over/under between the Clippers and Warriors opened at 241 and is currently up to 241.5. There may be a small reason for this, other than Boogie. The last nine games between the Clippers and Warriors have gone over the total by 16.4 points per game, although none of those nine games had a total higher than 234.5. — Evan Abrams Here’s a fun fact: Tonight’s total of 241.5 will be the ninth over/under of 240 or higher just this season; there were eight over/unders of 240 points or higher in the 20 years prior to this season. — Abrams Moore: Why I Like the Warriors Tonight Finish reading this entire article absolutely FREE in our app GET OUR FREE APP Pay close attention to how the Warriors have talked about Cousins. They’re genuinely excited for him — from Draymond’s “Hopefully it’s devastating … for everyone else” comment to the relative hype from the team. They want him to succeed. The Warriors need reasons to get up for games. Embarrassing the Clippers used to be their favorite game of the year. That’s changed since Blake Griffin and Chris Paul were traded. In this game, however, there’s reason to drive the opponent into the dirt. The Clippers are 22nd in net rating since Dec. 1. The reality is, this team simply isn’t that good. Laying -6 or -7 here seems easy. One word of caution: This spread range is exactly where the Warriors have struggled. They are 3-15-1 ATS in games in which they are favored between 3 and 9.5 points this season. But this isn’t the same Warriors. This is the Warriors with Boogie. — Matt Moore Mears: Why the Warriors Could Be Undervalued by the Betting Market I’m going to steal from my colleague Justin Phan, who I thought made a really sharp point in this piece about how DeMarcus Cousins should help the Warriors — and already has. Kerr has played Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant more in preparation for Cousins’ return, and his addition will mean the Warriors stagger those two much less often moving forward. That’s bad news for opponents, because as Justin pointed out, the duo has destroyed worlds the last four games: 120 minutes 380 points 146.5 (!!) Offensive Rating 68.1 effective field goal percentage 53.5 three-point percentage 3.8-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio It’s not really a secret anymore that the Warriors’ bench kind of stinks — especially when it comes to shooting. As a result, Kerr divided up minutes between his two superstars to keep that shot-making on the court as much as possible. With Boogie, that’s less necessary. That means not only will the Warriors obviously have the best starting unit in the league, but there will be no down time in which teams can catch up on the Warriors’ second and third strings.