Clippers @ Jazz Prediction: Bet lower total in Game 2
Game 1 between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Utah Jazz was about as exciting as playoff basketball gets.
Utah was down 13 at halftime just for Donovan Mitchell go off in the second half on his way to 45 points. But the Clippers kept at it, cutting the deficit to just three after trailing by eight with a minute left.
The Clippers had the chance to tie the game on the last possession of the game, but Rudy Gobert proved why he was the Defensive Player of the Year this year and for the third time in his career, playing Marcus Morris perfectly on the last possession and not fouling him on the pump fake or the second contest after Morris attempted to get a little more space.
I have a lot of people in my life that don’t think Gobert should be getting the award just because of his helpside defensive ability. But until we have a true stat that perimeter guys like Tony Allen wished there was, the award will likely keep going to big men.
Mitchell is due for regression in this game, but it doesn’t mean he’ll have a bad game, just that 45 isn’t likely again. They almost have to have a new gameplan to stop him. I’m not sure if that means more Kawhi on Mitchell or what, but I think we see lower scoring outputs tonight.
I think both teams offenses regress a little bit after getting to see each other up close, which is why I like the under 223 tonight. They’ll be able to make Mitchell’s life a little harder.
On the Clippers’ side, I do expect more points for Kawhi, but I’m not buying into the idea that Luke Kennard will continue to have games like he did in Game 1; going for 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 4-of-6 from deep.
The public seems to be on the over but the sharps are loving the under tonight, so grab the under 223 before it goes down.
For our prop of the night, lets take Paul George over 2.5 3-pointers made. Even in his rough 4-for-17 shooting night in Game 1, he still went 3-for-8 from downtown. George is also the type of player that will keep putting them up, even if they aren’t going in. I think he finishes with enough attempts to live up to his 41 percent from the regular season, despite shooting just 31 percent in these playoffs.
