NBA Odds: L.A. Clippers at Boston Celtics

Written March 23, 2009 by Anthony Moretti

clippers-celtics-nba-preview-032309 The Celtics have already locked up a playoff spot in the East and while they’ve now won 3 games in a row, they are just 4-4 over their last 8 games overall. Enter the Los Angeles Clippers, who should provide Boston with an easy home victory. L.A. is just 17-53 on the year and they have one of the worst road records in the NBA at 7-27. The Celtics own the 3rd best home record in the NBA at 28-6 and they are huge favorites going into tonight’s game. NBA odds makers have the Boston Celtics -16 against the Clippers and the total is set at 199 points.

The Clippers will need a much better effort against Boston than they put forth in their last game against the Raptors. Los Angeles scored just 76 points in a 24 point blowout by Toronto. The Clippers shot just 38.7 percent for the field, marking the 20th time this season they’ve shot under 40 percent as a team, with all 20 of those games resulting in an L.A. loss. With just 12 games remaining on the schedule this year, the Clippers will need to finish 7-5 over that span to avoid handing Mike Dunleavy his worst record in his six years as their head coach. Other than avoiding the label of Dunleavy’s worst team, the Clippers don’t have a lot to play for the rest of the way. The Clippers shocked the Celtics the last time these two met in L.A. where the Clips earned a 93-91 victory. If you think L.A. can keeps this game close, bet the Clippers +16 at SportsInteraction.

Boston has been back on track in their previous 3 games, scoring wins over the Heat, Spurs, and Grizzlies. They’ll go for win number four against the struggling L.A. Clippers tonight in Boston. The Celtics may have a bit of revenge on their minds from the loss L.A. handed them in their last meeting, and that might be all it takes to motivate this team to a sizable victory. The best part about the current winning streak is that the Celtics are doing it in large part without the help of Kevin Garnett, who has seen very limited playing time since coming back from his injury. The good news here is that, once Garnett comes back at full strength, it appears the Celtics will be ready to make another run at the title. Right now they are trying to keep pace with the Cleveland Cavs for the best record in the East. As it stands right now the Cavs are at 57-13 with Boston at 53-18 (Orlando is also in the running at 51-18). Boston’s last game was against the Grizzlies, a 105-87 win for the C’s in which they got some help off of the bench, something they’ve been looking for all season. Getting Garnett back and 100% healthy is a real goal for this team, so I imagine he will be limited once again in his playing time tonight.

There’s not a doubt that the Celtics are the better team and the team with more motivation in this match up. The Clippers’ season is effectively over and they have continuously struggled on the road this year. The 16-point spread is probably right on the money as I don’t see an edge either was ATS. The total also looks about right. My recommendation for tonight’s game is to lay off of it.

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