The NBA Playoffs continue Tuesday night in Game 1 between the Los Angeles Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs. The NBA Playoff odds for the game have the Spurs favored by 11 points. The game is scheduled for a 9:30 pm start time and it will be televised live on TNT. The spread shows that bookmakers have a prediction of a big win for the Spurs.
Picks: Clippers star forward Blake Griffin is going to play tonight, if only because it's the playoffs. Tonight opens up the second round matchup between the Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs. Both LA teams have advanced past the first round and both teams have seen their superstars get banged up. Griffin played just a couple of minutes in the fourth quarter of Game 7 the other day while Kobe Bryant has been battling some stomach issues. However, the Clippers have quite a few guys with some nagging injuries. Chris Paul has some issues with one of his hips and forward Caron Butler has a broken left hand, but is expected to continue to give it a go tonight. Let's be realistic here. Los Angeles has played six games in the past 11 days. That's a lot to being with. Add to that te Spurs are healthy, they've been waiting for nearly a week to play somebody in the second round, the Clippers just played in a Game 7 less than 48 hours ago, flew across the country and they have some injuries that are of major concern. In other words, the Spurs should probably rout them tonight. That's probably why the point spread is currently sitting at double digits with 11 points. Hard to imagine the Clips being able to cover that spread tonight, let alone pull off some kind of miracle win. It's also only the third time ever the Clippers have advanced past the first round of the NBA Playoffs, so this is some strange territory for them. The Spurs are the No. 1 seed in the West and were arguably the best overall team during the regular season this past year. In fact, they won their last 10 games of the regular season and swept Utah in the first round, making them winners of 14 consecutive games. During the regular season San Antonio beat LA twice Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and guard Tony Parker are no stranger to the playoffs and should come up big for the Spurs tonight. They might be a bit rusty, but we will take them at home to win big over the banged up, tired Clippers.
Prediction: Much like we saw last night with the Thunder dominating the Lakers, we're expecting the same thing tonight. The Spurs are ready to go and have been for eight days. The Clippers are beat up, we know that. Plus they've played a ton of games lately, somehow going to a seventh game with the Grizzlies. The Spurs are going to dominate every facet of the game tonight and this is going to be blowout city. Just how much can Griffin, Paul and Butler give to the Clippers tonight? A lot? Will they sit a lot of minutes? Who knows and it probably doesn't matter. Spurs 101, Clippers 83
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Betting Strategies: Handicapping NBA Playoffs
Host Marco D'Angelo and Pregame Pro Vegas Runner discuss their strategies about betting the NBA Playoffs and being successful.