Houston Rockets vs LA Clippers betting tips and predictions for Tuesday’s NBA game. Just 2 days after their intense game at the Toyota Center, the LA Clippers and Houston Rockets run it back for the 3rd and final regular season meeting. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
- Start date: 01.03. 2022 at 7 PM
- Location: Toyota Center (Houston)
Houston Rockets
It was a completely different game on Sunday compared to the 1st meeting of the season where the Clippers blew out the Rockets by 31 points. Sunday’s game was decided by a late block from Clippers center Ivica Zubac who stopped Christian Wood from tying the score with about 16 seconds to go.
The loss means that the Rockets have now dropped 9 straight and 14 of their last 15 games. This team is only 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games against Western Conference teams and optimism ahead of tonight’s game is at a very low level.
It is unknown if Kevin Porter Jr. will be able to play as he is questionable with an ankle injury. Without him in the line-up the Rockets are just 4-16 SU this season, highlighting just how important he is to this team.
LA Clippers
LA is one of the biggest overachievers this season despite being only 8th in the Western Conference with a 32-31 record. They are 3.5 games ahead of the Lakers in 9th place and relatively safe when it comes to entering the play-in tournament.
The status of both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard is unknown long term, they could make a comeback for the postseason, however neither of them will suit up tonight. In the win on Sunday it was Reggie Jackson who led the scoring with 26 points, as a team the Clippers shot 44% from the field and drained 11 threes on 34 attempts.
The thing that impressed me the most though was their play on defense as they held the Clippers to just 38% shooting and outrebounded them 59-37. If they can repeat that performance tonight then the win is almost a guarantee here.
Rockets are in complete re-build mode at this point and really have no incentive of winning. They are bottom of the Western Conference which should give them a high seed in the draft. Clippers, on the other hand, have everything to play for and they’ll take this game a lot more seriously. Go with the road team to cover here.
Houston Rockets vs LA Clippers Predictions & Odds
The shots just weren’t dropping for either team on Sunday, but I’m expecting a score more similar to the 1st meeting of the season where we saw a total of 253 points scored. In the last 10 meetings we saw the over cash in 6 of them, plus an average of 227.3 points per game were scored.
Before Sunday’s game the Rockets were allowing an average of 124.3 points per game in their last 12 games. Their home games have been very profitable if you have been backing the over with 17 of 27 cashing. That is to be expected as this team plays really fast, they rank 1st in the NBA in terms of pace averaging 102.9 possessions per game.
In their last 6 games they’ve gone over the total 4 times, plus against the Clippers that has happened in 8 of the last 12 games. The Clippers are just 17th in pace, however against a Rockets team that has allowed 119, 142, 124, 135 in 4 of their last 5 games they should have a field day scoring-wise. Expect both teams to shoot the lights out and not a lot of defense to be played. Back the over.
Over 229.5 Total Points is available at -110 odds on bet365
