The most surprising thing this week wasn’t Tiger Woods winning the Masters. Or the Lightning being swept by the Blue Jackets. It was the LA Clippers NBA-record comeback victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of their series. However, NBA Lines still solidly favor the Warriors for Game 3 in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
How to Bet Warriors vs Clippers 2019 NBA Playoffs Betting Lines & Game 3 Info
Compete & get after it. Coach Kerr on the 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/W3bB5HuI21
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) 18 de abril de 2019
- When: Thursday, 10:30 PM ET
- Where: Staples Center
- TV: TNT
- 2019 NBA Playoffs Betting Lines: Golden State Warriors -9 (Total 236)
Why Bet on Golden State?
Midway through the third quarter of Monday’s Game 2, the Warriors led the Clippers by 31 points. Yet, Golden State lost 135-131 in one of the most unlikely results in NBA history – it was the largest comeback win in NBA playoff history. The Warriors had won 20 of their last 21 home playoff games (last home loss was May 22, 2018, vs. Houston, Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals).It was Golden State’s first playoff loss in the shot-clock-era (1954-55) in which the team led by 15-or-more points at halftime. The Dubs lost their first game dating back to the 2014-15 postseason when dishing out 30-or-more assists (now 17-1).
Stephen Curry scored a team-high 29 points, adding six assists and a team-high tying three steals. Kevin Durant posted 21 points, five rebounds, five assists, a team-high tying three steals, and one block. Durant passed Jeff Mullins (1,073) for seventh on the Warriors’ all-time playoff points list (1,080). Durant also had nine turnovers.
Kevon Looney recorded a postseason and regular season career-high mark of 19 points, going 6-of-6 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Looney will be needed a lot more now because starting center DeMarcus Cousins has been lost for the rest of the season to a torn quad muscle. The injury occurred with 8 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first quarter after Cousins knocked away a pass from Clippers forward Danilo Gallinari. As he tried to chase down the ball, he fell to the floor before he could control the ball.
The Warriors’ big man is only a few months removed from returning from a left Achilles tear that sidelined him for a year, and for the first time in his nine NBA seasons, he was experiencing his first taste of a long playoff run. Cousins averaged 16.3 points and 8.2 rebounds in 30 games this season.
Andrew Bogut also will see more playing time with Cousins out, but Looney is likely to start. The Warriors have won eight of the last nine games (all regular season) against the Clippers in Los Angeles… The lone loss during that span was a 121-116 overtime loss on Nov. 12, 2018.
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 117.88
- Field Goal Percentage: 49.12
- Three-Point Percentage: 38.60
- Free Throw Percentage: 80.37
- Total Rebounds: 46.18
Defense
- Total Score: 111.42
- Field Goal Percentage: 44.46
- Three-Point Percentage: 34.84
- Free Throw Percentage: 77.30
- Total Rebounds: 44.14
Why Bet on LA Clippers?
When Kevin Durant sank a free throw with 7:31 in the third quarter, the Warriors had built their largest lead of the game at 31 points. At that point, the Clippers had a 0.01 percent win probability, but they had also come back from 28 points down to beat the Celtics on the road earlier this season. As noted, the Clippers’ rally from down 31 was the largest comeback in NBA postseason history. They scored 85 points in the second half for the 1st time since they were the Buffalo Braves.Doc Rivers has now coached three different 20-point postseason comebacks in his career, the most of any coach over the last 20 seasons. The Clippers became the second team in NBA history to trail by 23-or-more points at the half and go on to win (Cleveland overcame a 25-point halftime deficit on April 20, 2017, at Indiana).
Before this season, no team had more than one 25-point comeback win in a season since play-by-play data became available in 1996-97. But this season, the Clippers have posted three comebacks of 25 points or more.
The Warriors (40) and the Clippers (44) both scored 40-plus points in the second quarter, marking the first time two teams have each had a 40-point quarter in the same playoff game since Sacramento and Dallas each scored 40-or-more in the first quarter on May 8, 2013.
The Clippers’ 83 bench points were the second most scored in a postseason game since 1970-71 (most: 86 bench points by Dallas on May 8, 2011). Lou Williams had 36, a franchise postseason bench record. Williams hit 13-of-22 shots with 11 assists, two rebounds, two steals, one block, and two triples, while fellow Sixth Man of the Year Candidate Montrezl Harrell also pulled his weight 25 points, 10 rebounds, and two assists. Those two guys have combined for 112 points through the first two games. Might LA now win this series. Still doubtful. However, the Clippers were the 7th team to mount a 20-point comeback win on the road in the last 20 postseasons. The series record of the previous 6 teams was 5-1.
Team Stats
Offense- Total Score: 115.25
- Field Goal Percentage: 47.19
- Three-Point Percentage: 38.81
- Free Throw Percentage: 79.19
- Total Rebounds: 45.27
Defense
- Total Score: 114.57
- Field Goal Percentage: 45.81
- Three-Point Percentage: 34.48
- Free Throw Percentage: 77.97
- Total Rebounds: 45.76
Warriors vs Clippers 2019 NBA Playoffs Betting Trends
- Over is 9-3 in the last 12 meetings
- Road team is 8-3 ATS in the last 11 meetings
- Golden State is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games
- Golden State is 7-2 SU in its last 9 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 17 of Golden State’s last 23 games
- LA is 3-6 ATS in its last 9 games at home
- LA is 11-3 SU in its last 14 games at home
- The total has gone OVER in 7 of LA Clippers’s last 8 games at home
