Back-to-back double-digit defeats to the Portland Trail Blazers certainly wasn't something most OKC fans expected going into that matchup, but the guard/forward-loaded Trail Blazers made the most out of the Thunder injury woes, and now OKC is back to the drawing board as they look to bounce back. Standing in their way are the Clippers, whom they already beat once this season, a 108-101 triumph at home in the opening week. OKC went into that game as a -16.5 favorite; tonight that number has been slashed to just 7.5 points, which just shows the state of the team right now. All eyes will be on SGA as he takes on the team he started his NBA career with. He's scored 30+ in three of the last four meetings.
Apart from the two wins over Sacramento and New Orleans, it’s been all downhill for the Clippers so far this season. The only bright spot is the play of Darius Garland, who is enjoying life as the number one option on offense. Other than that, you’d be hard-pressed to find any positive. LA ranks 25th in defensive efficiency; opponents are getting pretty much whatever they want both on the inside and the outside. We just saw them surrender 133 points to the mediocre Phoenix Suns, allowing 22 threes to go in. What’s even more concerning is the fact that 15 of those came from bench players, most notably Jordan Goodwin, who went 6-for-7 from deep.
After allowing 123 and 118 points to the Trail Blazers in their last two games, the Thunder need to revert back to playing more aggressively on the defensive end. The 8-2 SU start was mainly due to their stellar play on that end; in five of those games, they held opponents to 105 or less points. With the first meeting seeing just 208 points between the two teams, I’m leaning towards another low-scoring game here.
Thunder vs Clippers prediction: Under 222.5 (-109) available at time of publishing. Playable to that number.
