The NBA Playoffs continue on Tuesday night and we will see the Los Angeles Clippers travel to the Toyota Center to take on the Houston Rockets in game 5 of their best-of-seven series. Free Pick to follow. The game has a start time of 9:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TNT. Current Vegas betting odds have the Clippers listed as 2.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 219.
Analysis: The Los Angeles Clippers came into the playoffs as the number 3 seed and now they are just 1 game away from playing in the Western Conference Finals. The Clippers played the first two games of the series without Chris Paul and they split those games, but with Paul back on the court the last two games they have beaten Houston by 25 and 33 points to take a 3-1 series lead. The Clippers look very good right now. The Clippers have scored 107.0 ppg on 47.4% shooting overall and 37.1% from long range on the road this year. Defensively they have struggled away from home as they have allowed 102.4 ppg on 45.2% shooting overall and 36.1% shooting from long range.
The Houston Rockets played very well down the stretch of the season and looked as if they may be a dangerous team in the playoffs, but after taking 3 of 4 vs Dallas, they have really struggled with a much better Clippers squad and are now on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs. Defense has been a problem for this team all year and it has showed in this series as they have allowed the Clippers 119.5 ppg in the 4 games thus far. The Rockets have scored 104.2 ppg on 44.2% shooting overall and 35.0% from long range at home for the year. Defensively they have been decent at home as they have allowed 98.8 ppg on 45.7% shooting overall and 29.3% shooting from long range.
Pick: I will be going with the Clippers in this one. I feel that the Rockets are done. They really showed little fight in the games when the Clippers didn't have Paul on the floor and they have showed less of a fight in the games with him o the floor as they have been blownout by 25 and 28 points the last 2 games. The Clippers do not want this series to go on any longer and I feel they will come out fired up to get this win and knockout a reeling Rockets squad that just hasn't played with much motivation in this series. The defense for the Rockets shows its ugly head once again as the Clippers win this one rather easily.
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Teddy Covers and Steve Fezik from Pregame.com debate whether to buy or sell the Los Angeles Clippers moving forward through the playoffs.