It took a while but now the stage is set for this second round NBA playoffs matchup in the Western Conference. CappersPicks.com will continue to offer complimentary game selections all NBA playoffs long.<\/p>\n
\nNBA Playoff Betting Odds<\/h3>\n
Houston vs. Los Angeles<\/strong>
\n Series Odds: \u00a0Rockets -138, Clippers +118<\/strong><\/p>\nNBA Picks<\/h3>\n
Today’s NBA Lines<\/a><\/strong>
\nToday’s NBA Matchups<\/a><\/strong>
\nNBA Standings<\/a><\/strong>
\n***2015 NBA BONUSES***<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nNBA Series Schedule:<\/h3>\n
G1 Los Angeles @ Houston – May 4<\/strong>
\nG2 Los Angeles @ Houston – May 6<\/strong>
\nG3 Houston @ Los Angeles – May 8<\/strong>
\nG4 Houston @ Los Angeles – May 10<\/strong>
\nG5 Los Angeles @ Houston – May 12*<\/strong>
\nG6 Houston @ Los Angeles – May 14*<\/strong>
\nG7 Los Angeles @ Houston – May 17*<\/strong>
\n*If necessary<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nHouston has been waiting to see if they would get the Spurs or the Clippers and I have to think they are happy with the result.<\/p>\n
The Rockets handled the Mavs very easily and get another team that would prefer offense to defense to tame in round two.<\/p>\n
[dfads params=’groups=63742&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n
Los Angeles gets full marks for vanquishing a veteran Spurs team but you have to wonder if it might have taken too much out of them.<\/p>\n
This Clippers team has lots of talent but it not very deep. If guys like Chris Paul and Blake Griffin looking tired they have nowhere to turn.<\/p>\n
Starters<\/h3>\n
James Harden is my MVP for this season. He contribute in all facets of the game and is not afraid to take the big shots.<\/p>\n
[dfads params=’groups=63727&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n
When healthy Dwight Howard is still among the better centers in the league and he could have a big series given that he won\u2019t have to worry too much about guarding DeAndre Jordan.<\/p>\n
This is not a loaded group but by now they definitely know their rolls.<\/p>\n
The Clippers have one of the best starting units in the NBA. They have three All-Star level players in Paul, Griffin and Jordan and J.J. Reddick is one of the best shooters in the league. Matt Barnes is mercurial but at the same time he gives them a little bit of an edge and always agitates the opponent.<\/p>\n
Advantage: \u00a0Los Angeles<\/strong><\/p>\n
Bench:<\/h3>\n
Houston\u2019s depth has been diminished by injuries as Patrick Beverley and Donatas Motiejunas are unavailable.<\/p>\n
Josh Smith can provide a big time lift but he is anything but consistent. Nobody else stands out but Corey Brewer has his moments and they have some size they can throw out there.<\/p>\n
In Jamal Crawford the Clippers have one of the most consistent bench scorers in the league.<\/p>\n
[dfads params=’groups=63741&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n
Unfortunately on too many nights they get close to nothing from anybody else. This is the real weakness of the team and it is unlikely to change over the course of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Advantage: \u00a0Houston<\/strong><\/p>\n
Coaching<\/h3>\n
:<\/p>\n
Kevin McHale is getting his team past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in his coaching career. It may not be much but at least he has the smarts to give Harden the freedom he needs. Other than that I am not sure what you get from him.<\/p>\n
Doc Rivers led the Celtics to a title seven years ago and since that time has pushed his team past the first round every season but one.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think of him as a big time strategy guys but his teams compete for him.<\/p>\n
Advantage: \u00a0Los Angeles<\/strong><\/p>\n
Prediction<\/h3>\n
: This very much has the look of another series that could go the distance, with the Clippers once again winning.<\/p>\n
They won\u2019t have home court advantage like they did against San Antonio but these Clippers are proving to be a very resilient bunch and they starting unit might be the second best in the league. The key to the series will be stealing at least game one or two on the road. If they can\u2019t it is going to be awfully tough.<\/p>\n
Throughout this one look to play underdogs unless the spread is a possession or less. Houston is -6 in the opener which might be the biggest spread of the series. Look for the Clips in G1.<\/p>\n
Check out our\u00a0Updated NBA Betting Odds<\/a>.<\/h3>\n
[dfads params=’groups=64991&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NBA Betting: Clippers vs. Rockets\u00a0Predictions It took a while but now the stage is set for this second round NBA playoffs matchup in the Western Conference. CappersPicks.com will continue to offer complimentary game selections all NBA playoffs long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":76352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[61013,578,60331,18626,749,12358,65751,45778,11979],"class_list":["post-96424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-61013","tag-houston-rockets","tag-houston-rockets-vs-los-angeles-clippers","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-nba-odds","tag-nba-playoff-picks","tag-nba-series-futures","tag-rockets-vs-clippers","tag-round-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96424"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96477,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96424\/revisions\/96477"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}