NBA preview and tips: Portland Trail Blazers at LA Clippers
Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA
It’s still all to play for in the NBA Western Conference with LA Clippers, Golden State Warriors, New Orleans Pelicans, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the LA Lakers all battling for play-off seeding.
While all of them are guaranteed a spot in the post-season, their preference would be to avoid the play-in tournament (7th-10th) and secure an advantageous home-court draw.
For those unfamiliar with the play-off system, the higher a team finishes, the more games they'll play at home. In a seven-game series, the higher-ranked team plays four of those games at home.
The Portland Trail Blazers are out of the picture and look like a decimated squad right now, which is not uncommon at this stage of the season.
Portland Trail Blazers at LA Clippers (start time 21:00 BST)
Those that aren't on the treatment table are probably on the beach. The Blazers are expected to be without as many as 10 players here, including the starting five.
They briefly threatened a surprise result against the Grizzlies, but Memphis were able to pick things up later on and win by 10.
Prior to that, Portland had lost four of five by at least 20 points, and it seems unlikely the Clippers will underestimate them here.
LA beat Portland 117-102 back on March 19 at a time when Portland was much healthier and hadn't already checked out for the season.
Portland are a soft 3-9 ATS as an underdog of 11 or more points, and also 7-18 ATS against a team with a winning record.
The Clippers know that they need to win both of their remaining games and if they do, with a game in hand, they can steal the fifth seed.
Standout ATS Trends
Team News
Paul George will miss out for the LA Clippers. Starts Damian Lillard, Josef Nurkic, Anfernee Simmons, Matisse Thybulle, and Jerami Grant are amongst the 10 players out for Portland.
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