NBA Preseason: Denver Nuggets vs. LA Clippers Preview, Odds, Prediciton

Denver Nuggets and the LA Clippers meet in Ontario, California tonight, in a preseason game that creates a lot of hype. This is the final game at this venue, which features two of the top teams in the West, who will try to win the conference first, and later the title. Denver had slight trouble with Nikola Jokic’s absence and his minor injury, while on the other side, the Clippers didn’t have such problems, as all of their big stars remained healthy throughout the opening three games of the preseason.

Preview

Denver Nuggets (+130) defeated the Suns in the most recent matchup but lost the previous two against the OKC Thunder, 112-101, and the Bulls, 131-113. The final result of the game against the Suns was 107-105, and may we add that it was a very fun game to watch.

Ish Smith was the man, scoring on the last two possessions for the Nuggets and hitting a clutch jumper with 8.9 seconds, breaking the tie and bringing a win for the franchise from Colorado.

Smith opened the game on the bench, but later on came in to play 25 minutes, score 17 points, and have seven boards, 7-for-12 from the field. Bones Hyland, the sophomore, had 16 points and six boards with two blocks in 20 minutes, while Bruce Brown added 12. Michael Porter Jr. made only two of his 11 FG attempts for nine points. Jokic, KCP, Murray, and Gordon didn’t play.

The LA Clippers (-160) won the first two preseason meetings, in one against Maccabi Ra’Anana, 121-81, then against the Portland Trail Blazers, 102-07, before losing to the T-Wolves two days ago, 119-117. Head coach Doc Rivers is trying to figure out how to make the rotation because his team is much different than last year.

He now has Kawhi and PG ready, plus John Wall, who came to LA during the offseason. The Clippers had all three of them in the starting lineup, and we have to say the Clips looked well. Wall had 20 points, George had 14, and Morris added 13.

The Clips couldn’t score for four minutes in the late fourth, which was when the T-Wolves flipped the result and took the lead. This was a very good test for Rivers and his crew, a very tense one. The Clippers’ support players had a chance to prove themselves worthy of a place on the team.

Head to Head Games

We saw the Nuggets and the Clips meeting four times last year. Denver had three wins, while LAC won one game. We all remember their playoff battle back in the Orlando bubble three years ago, once the Clippers dropped a 3-1 lead.

Prediction

Since this could be the game with all the top stars involved on both ends, we should see some points. Wall is a very aggressive playmaker who likes to impose a very high pace on the court, and on the other side, Jokic, Murray, and all the others should be back on the floor. The line for the total number of points is at 218.5, and for us, this is over.

Pick: Over 218.5 -110