Western Conference Favs Collide 🏀

Almost halfway through the season, the West is still up for grabs - can the Clippers or Nuggets bag a statement win tonight? The health of PG and Kawhi certainly plays a role, but that is one thing that's just too hard to predict 👀 (3 min read)

Author

Cooper Halpern
January 05, 2023

Photo by Bart Young/NBAE via Getty Images

Western Conference Check-In

With some teams just beginning to eclipse 40 games this week, the 2022-23 NBA season is officially approaching its midpoint. Incredibly, just three losses separate the 13th-seeded Lakers from the sixth-seeded Clippers, so the bulk of the league remains in the mix with a few months left of play 🗓

Here are the teams that would earn a guaranteed playoff spot and avoid the play-in tourney if the season ended today 👇

  • Nuggets: 24-13

  • Grizzlies: 24-13

  • Pelicans: 24-14

  • Mavericks: 22-16

  • Kings: 20-16

  • Clippers: 21-18

With the emergence of the Jazz, Kings and Thunder as credible basketball teams, plus the early-season struggles of the Lakers, Warriors, Suns and Wolves, the West's standings have been turned upside-down from what we expected ⛹️‍♂️

  • However, oddsmakers' haven't changed too much regarding who will come out of the West in June 👇

  • Warriors: +380 (bet $100, win $380)

  • Clippers: +450

  • Nuggets: +475

  • Grizzlies: +550

  • Suns: +650

  • Pelicans: +950

  • Mavs: +1200

  • Lakers: +2500

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images

Nuggets @ Clippers Preview

Tonight in Denver, the top team in the West takes on a team with crazy playoff expectations. If Kawhi Leonard and Nikola Jokic both play, it will be their first on-court matchup since the 2020 NBA bubble in Orlando 🤯

  • While the Nuggets have thrived due to the improved health of their second and third-best players in Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., the Clippers have struggled in the absence of their best one 📉

Without Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers have stumbled their way to an 10-13 record, faring worse than they did last season when they went 42-40 without a single minute of play from their top dog

  • Through 39 Clipper games, Kawhi Leonard has played in just 16, averaging less than 30 MPG in which he has appeared. Still, the Clippers look like a potential juggernaut when Kawhi does play, going 11-5 in the 16 contests he has suited up for 📈

Meanwhile, the Nuggets have rolled to the best record in the West primarily on the back of the two-time reigning MVP, Nikola Jokic. He's missed only three of his team's 37 games, and has a chance to become the fourth player in NBA history to win MVP in three consecutive years 🏆

  • Luka Doncic: +280

  • Giannis Antetokounmpo: +375

  • Jayson Tatum: +425

  • Nikola Jokic: +500

  • Kevin Durant: +750

Tonight should be a good one (especially if PG and Kawhi play), here's how Vegas expects these teams to fare when they face off at 10PM EST 👇

  • Spread: Nuggets -4.5

  • Moneyline: Nuggets -180, Clippers +152

  • Over/Under: 225.5

Trivia Question: Who are the only three players in league history to win MVP in three straight seasons?

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

For My Parlay Gurus

As of now, Kawhi Leonard is not on the Clippers' injury report, but he was a late scratch as recently as Monday due to a non-Covid illness. Also, Paul George is listed as questionable due to a hamstring that has bothered him all season 🤕

Since the Clippers' chances of winning likely depend on the availability of not one, but both of their often-injured superstars, I'm hammering the Nuggets moneyline before one or both is ruled out, and parlaying it with a the Mavs at home 👇

  • Nuggets ML vs. Clippers: -180

  • Mavs ML vs. Celtics: +120

$100 on this bet would win you $242 — if we hit, make sure you email [email protected] for a chance to win up to $100*. Many will enter, only some will win 😉

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Trivia Answer: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Larry Bird are the only NBA greats to have won the MVP award in back-to-back-to-back seasons

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