The San Antonio Spurs return home to the AT&T Center for one game as they tip off against the reeling Los Angeles Clippers. Two teams trending in opposite directions in tonight’s game as San Antonio is coming off back-to-back road victories, while Los Angeles has dropped five straight games, including going 0-4 in its four-game homestand. The Spurs have won two of the previous three meetings with the Clippers this year and are an 8.5-point favorite in tonight’s game with the total Sportsbook at 224 points.
- Los Angeles is 0-5 SU and ATS in its last five games.
- San Antonio is 12-2 SU and ATS in its last 14 home games.
- The total has gone UNDER in seven of Los Angeles’ last nine games.
Los Angeles vs San Antonio Game Center
Can the Clippers Find the End of the Tunnel?
Los Angeles is coming off a horrible four-game homestand in which it dropped every game with an average losing margin of 11.75. The Clippers have been an offensive powerhouse all season long, ranking fifth in league with 114.7 ppg, but during this ongoing five-game losing skid, they are scoring just 104.4 ppg ranking 24th. Much of the scoring has gone away due to their shots not landing like they have this year.
LA hasn’t taken many shots this year, averaging the eighth-fewest field goal attempts per game at 87.4, but it has a good shooting percentage of 47.2 which ranks eighth. However, during this slide, the Clippers are shooting just 44.4 percent from the floor and are taking the third-fewest shots over that span at 86.
One thing that has remained consistent, though, is their weakness on defense as they surrender the seventh-most points per game at 114.6, which has risen to 118.4 in its last five. The biggest reason for this uptick is teams are simply shooting better as the Clippers have allowed the second-most shot attempts against this season and that has remained consistent over their losing slide. However, they were able to restrict their foes to a 45.6 shooting percentage which has to 47.5 with 53.2 points coming from the paint, the fifth-most in the association.
Spurs have been Red Hot at home
San Antonio came out of the gate a little slow, dropping four of its first 12 home games but since the start of December, it has had tremendous success at the AT&T Center. The Spurs have won 12 of their last 14 home games with an average winning margin of 18.08 and no game being won by fewer than seven points.
The offense hasn’t had much of a change at home, averaging just two more ppg at home than on the season. Interestingly, though, the Spurs’ pace of play drops a little bit at home and they average fewer shots, but their shooting percentage increases to 48.9 percent which ranks in a tie for the top of the league with Denver.
The one area San Antonio excels at is getting clean looks from beyond the arc as it averages the fewest attempts per game but shoots 40.4 percent from long range which is the best percentage in the NBA, and that climbs to 43 percent at the AT&T Center.
Meanwhile, on the defensive side of the ball, teams struggle to put points on the board vs the Spurs at home as they allow the sixth-fewest ppg at 105.6. There’s a couple of reasons for their restriction of points given up at home, the first is they take the fewest fouls per game at 18.4 and give up the third-fewest free-throw shots per game. Additionally, they limit their opponents’ second chances by committing the fewest turnovers per game at 12.5.
Should you be on the UNDER?
Los Angeles has been hitting UNDERs frequently over the last month and Sportsbook has tonight’s total Sportsbook at 224 points. These teams tipped off at the AT&T Center in mid-December with the total Sportsbook at 221.5 points and they played to a combined score of 212. Just over a month later, the total has risen but the Clippers offense has gone silent and the Spurs defense at home has taken over.
Los Angeles has gone UNDER in seven of its last nine games but has an average combined score of 224.3 with four games going UNDER 224. Meanwhile, San Antonio has gone UNDER in eight of its last 12 home games with an average combined score of 218.58 with nine games going UNDER 224 points.
My take on Los Angeles vs San Antonio
I like the UNDER 224 points. The total doesn’t really make sense to me as the last time they met in San Antonio, they played to a combined score of 212, now the Clippers are scoring just 104.4 ppg over their last five and the Spurs are surrendering the sixth-fewest ppg at home at 105.6 overall.
Additionally, both teams rank in the bottom third of the league in shot attempts per game, relying on good shooting percentages to carry them to victory. Lastly, nine of the Spurs last 12 games have gone UNDER 224 points with an average combined score of 218.58 and the Clippers have gone UNDER in seven of their last nine games.
