OUR NBA man Ashfaq Hussain (broke_no_joke) is passionate about a bet in the NFL late on Monday.
LA Clippers @ San Antiono Spurs | Tuesday 01:35 | BT Sport 1
Two teams who haven't had the best of luck in the last few weeks with results and injuries match up tonight in a fiery contest. Despite their lack of luck, these two remain NBA heavyweights.
I was looking forward to a CP3 vs TP match up tonight, but with Tony Parker still ruled out through injury this could be an easy night for Chris Paul to try pick up a bit of form going into the Christmas period.
Along with Tony Parker, Kawhi Leanord is also sidelined, as is Patty Mills, but the old guard Tim Duncan will be out on the court tonight. It will be interesting watching him going at it against Blake Griffin in the boards.
The other key match up in this game for me will be the two benches. I think the Spurs bench has the edge in this one tonight, and that is what will eventually win them this game tonight. It has the edge due to the fact that all the players have had so much game time lately, including a handful of overtime games.
The influence of Gregg Popovich will see Spurs overcome Clippers as well, as the experience he possesses in the big matches is far superior to Doc Rivers' even though a lot of respect has to be given to the Clippers coach. He is no rookie either, but he's had a mixed ride so far with, whereas Pop has just sailed through and trusted his players whether they are the old guard or a young kid thrown into the mix as we seen with Kyle Anderson in the recent game against Portland.
It's home advantage tonight for Spurs, and having taken into account all the possibilities of this match, I can see San Antonio edging this tonight even with a few big names out. We saw against Dallas in their last away game that it doesn't matter how many players Pop leaves out, he always finds the right balance between slowing the game down and getting the best hitting Danny Green and Marco Belinelli from deep 3's to claw his team back into the driving seat.
Best Bets
LA Clippers @ San Antonio Spurs – San Antonio Spurs to win (Evens Paddy Power)
LA Clippers @ San Antonio Spurs – San Antonio Spurs To Win By 1-5 Points (6/1 BetVictor)
