Toronto Raptors vs. Los Angeles Clippers Prediction, NBA Odds
The Toronto Raptors conclude their five-game road trip, longest remaining this season, with a Wednesday night visit to Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers. How heavily the Clips are favoured on the NBA odds depends on a few injuries – and Kawhi himself is always a threat to sit.
Raptors vs. Clippers NBA Betting Odds
Former Raptors NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard is still going strong for the Los Angeles Clippers and playing at a very high level, but he’s basically alone on an island with that franchise right now as the only star on a mediocre franchise going nowhere. The Clips took a step back for this season, anyways, around the trade deadline by trading James Harden to Cleveland for Darius Garland, who is younger and cheaper than Harden but also not as good.
Los Angeles will make the Western Conference Play-In Tournament, it’s just a matter of which spot. Getting to No. 7 is unlikely, so it will be somewhere between eighth and 10th. Finishing eighth is ideal as it guarantees a second chance if lose the first Play-In game. To reach the full-field West playoffs, the Clippers are -175. The team has reached each of the past three seasons but lost in Round 1 in all.
The Clippers try for the season sweep and to even the all-time series at 30-all as they prevailed 121-117 in overtime as 2.5-point underdogs at Scotiabank Arena on Jan. 16. Leonard missed it with an injury. Harden was still a Clipper and had 31 points and 10 assists. Toronto led 109-101 with 3:35 remaining in regulation but missed six straight shots and Harden forced overtime with an 8-0 run of his own.
Los Angeles is 7-3 SU in the past 10 meetings overall but 5-5 ATS. The over-under is 5-5.
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors might be on fumes playing a fifth straight road game across multiple time zones. Whether it’s a winning trip will be decided Wednesday as Toronto is 2-2 on it following a 143-127 blowout victory at tanking Utah on Monday to snap a two-game skid.
The Dinos scored 49 in the third quarter to blow it open, tying the team record for most points in a quarter. Toronto’s 49 assists in the game were a team record, and the 143 points were No. 3 in franchise annals. This despite starters Brandon Ingram, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl all out in the second of a back-to-back, but I expect each to play Wednesday.
Yet four players finished with at least 20 points for the second time this season led by RJ Barrett’s 27. The team shot a season-high 61.4 per cent from the field.
The Raptors recently signed guard Markelle Fultz, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft by Philadelphia, to a 10-day contract, and he made his team debut Monday with two points and five assists in 16 minutes off the bench. Toronto is 5-1 ATS in its past six.
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles blew out visiting Milwaukee on Monday for a second straight win following a four-game skid. Kawhi Leonard scored 28 points in just 25 minutes, and the Clippers were 18-for-18 from the foul line to get back to .500 after once sitting at 6-21.
It’s the third time L.A. has gotten to .500 since that start. When it first did March 9, it became the first team in NBA history to move above .500 after falling 15 games below .500 in the same season.
Leonard ranks third in the NBA in steals per game at 2.0 and is averaging a career-high 28.3 points (No. 6 in the league). Kawhi has scored at least 20 in 48 straight, a career high and a Clippers record in a single season.
Forward John Collins (13.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG) missed Monday with an injury and is day-to-day. Guard Bennedict Mathurin, acquired around the deadline from Indiana, has been out since March 16 with a toe injury and remains day-to-day but not likely Wednesday. He’s averaging 19.9 points mostly off the bench since arriving from the Pacers. L.A. is 2-5 ATS in its past seven.