NBA Games: Los Angeles Clippers vs. Toronto Raptors

If you’re a member of an Australian online bookmaker or just into Australian online sports betting, there are many good games that are scheduled to play on the first weekend of February. There’s boxing, Australian rules, golf, gridiron, ice hockey, mixed martial arts, rugby, football or basketball. From all these, basketball is perhaps my favorite. There have been some big changes on teams recently, and one of them is the Toronto Raptors.

 

The team traded away point guard Jose Calderon and forward Ed Davis to acquire Rudy Gay from the Memphis Grizzlies.  

 

On Friday evening in the US and Saturday morning in Australia, the game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Toronto Raptors is something to watch, not for its competitive value but rather the curiosity of what the recent deal brings to the Toronto Raptors who’ve made a rather questionable trade again.

 

The game against one of best teams of the western conference is a good measuring stick to find out if the trade really benefited the playoff chances of the Toronto Raptors who seem like they are trying to get into. Why else would they be trading for an overly-expensive start?

 

Anyway, the two teams have already played once last December where the Clippers blew the Raptors away for an impressive 19-point lead win. While the game might closer this time around, it doesn’t necessarily mean the team is getting better. After all, the Clippers have their own issues that they need to deal with. We can only see how the team plays without Calderon guiding them, which I don’t think is going to be pretty.

 

Regarding the Los Angeles Clippers’ issues, they are without their best player in Chris Paul. Chris Paul is the main difference make that decides whether the Clippers are a great team or a mediocre team. If you watched the Clippers’ games closely, you know that their offense rely mostly on Chris Paul creating opportunities for his teammates. Without Chris Paul, the clippers mostly rely on their sheer talent on the offensive end with those isolation plays. It’s not an exaggeration to say that they don’t have offensive sets. While they have won using those methods, against teams with better perimeter defenders, which the Toronto Raptors currently has, they could be facing a big problem.

 

However, with a new lineup for the Raptors, the Clippers should win this one without much trouble at all.