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Carrie Stroup here with your Clippers vs. Rockets Game 1 betting line for the 2015 NBA Playoffs courtesy of our friends at Sportsbook.ag.
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (60-29) at HOUSTON ROCKETS (60-27)
Western Conference – Semifinals – Game 1
Sportsbook.agLine: Houston -6.5, Total: 213
The Clippers travel to Houston on Monday for Game 1 of their series with the Rockets. Los Angeles enters this series after an emotional Game 7 victory over San Antonio on Saturday. The Clippers won that game 111-109 as 2.5-point favorites and showed some serious toughness, beating the defending champs despite being down 3-2.
The Rockets, meanwhile, beat the Mavericks 103-94 as 8-point favorites in Game 5 on Apr. 28. They will be well-rested heading into this series after dominating Dallas.
The Rockets and Clippers met four times this season and the teams split wins both straight up and against the spread. Los Angeles is 8-3 straight up and 7-4 against the spread versus Houston over the past three seasons.
PG Chris Paul is going to the most important player for the Clips in this series. He hurt his hamstring against the Spurs in Game 7 and Los Angeles will not win this series if he is not performing at a high level.
SG James Harden will need to play as well as he did during the regular season if the Rockets are going to win this series. The Clippers are weakest defensively at the shooting guard position and he should be able to find a way to dominate.
One thing going in the Rockets’ favor is that they are 29-15 against the spread in home games this season. They are, however, beaten up with PF Donatas Motiejunas (Back) and PG Patrick Beverley (Wrist) out for the season.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
