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The Los Angeles Clippers (36-37) will look to stay in the playoff picture as they visit the Denver Nuggets (42-30) at Ball Arena on Tuesday night. Tipoff is set for 10:00 p.m. ET.
The Clips aren’t in danger of losing their playoff spot at the moment as they sit firmly in eighth place, 4.5 games ahead of the ninth-place Lakers. They’ve gone just 4-6 in their last 10, and will look to snap a three-game losing skid as they head out on the road to face the sixth-place Nuggets. Denver has lost its last two, with a 119-116 OT loss to the Cavs followed by a 124-104 loss to the Celtics on Sunday.
The Nuggets are favored to win by 6.5 points at DraftKings Sportsbook, coming in at -275 on the board. The Clippers sit at +220 while the point total is set at 223.
Clippers vs. Nuggets, 10:00 p.m. ET
Pick ATS: Clippers +6.5
LA will be without its two best players in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, but that’s nothing new this season as Leonard hasn’t played a single minute, and PG13 hasn’t played since mid-December. The Clippers’ last game ended up in a blowout loss to the Jazz on Friday, but they’ve had a few days off to recover since then and will hope to utilize their No. 8-ranked defense as they look to slow the Nuggets down.
LA center Ivica Zubac has his work cut out for him, going head-to-head with reigning MVP Nikola Jokic. Zubac will hope to neutralize the threat of Jokic at least a little bit, taking some of his points off the board and keeping him tired in the paint all night. Zubac has averaged 10.2 points and 8.4 rebounds this season, but that changes to 17.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in his three previous meetings against Denver.
The Clippers will also look to rely on Reggie Jackson, who’s only played in two of the three meetings against the Nuggets this season, but averaged 20.5 points and 8.0 assists between those two performances. He put up 28 the last time they met and has a lethal shot from the perimeter when he’s playing well.
Even though the Nuggets may pull out the victory, the Clippers should be able to keep the game close enough to cover the spread in the end.
Over/Under: Under 223
Two of the three games between these sides this season have finished under the total, and the one that finished over just happened to have an overtime period attached to it. Both teams have solid defenses, with the Clippers rated eighth in the league and the Nuggets coming in at 14th. It always seems to be a battle at both ends of the court between these two teams and with the Clippers only going over the total three times in their last 10, take the under as the safe play in Denver tonight.
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