3/3 on the final day of 2020 sends us into 2021 with a decent profit made so far. Not one of the better slates is this Saturdays games but there are still two matches that definitely hold plenty of interest.
Current Bank: 105.73 Units (+5.73 U) Max outlay on any event is 3 units.
LA Clippers v Utah Jazz
1:05 pm 2 January AEST
The Clippers have bounced back from their bizarre 50 point drubbing at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks by handing out two drubbings of their own to the Timberwolves and Blazers. Kawhi is back from that pretty nasty mouth injury and the Clippers have looked back to their dominant themselves ever since, albeit against weaker opposition than what they find here.
The Jazz on the other hand haven’t really taken off this season so far, and are very fortunate not to be on a 3 game losing slump. Offensively they are playing well but they cannot seem to defend anyone whatsoever, allowing 100 points against in all 4 matches so far. With a potent scoring combo of Kawhi and George coming into town, who have both made incredibly impressive starts to the season (In particular George after his famous Bubble Playoff meltdown) this looks like another horror match up for the Jazz. Serge Ibaka looks primed to stop big man Rudy Gobert towering over the Clippers and Donovan Mitchell hasn’t been his dominant self in the early part of the season for the Jazz so far.
The Clippers are a -3.5 point favourite, and they should have just enough offensive power for the Jazz in this spot.
BACK: LA Clippers -3.5 at $1.91 for 1.5 units.
Portland Trail Blazers v Golden State Warriors
2:35 pm 2 January AEST
After a sensational win against the Champion LA Lakers. The Blazers fell in a heap against another LA based team in the Clippers, coming back to earth with a 23 point loss. The Blazers will live and die by their star duo in CJ Mccollum and Dame Llilard, and frankly they were both incredibly average against the impressive Clippers, especially on the defensive side. The good news for the Blazers is they have proven with their win over the Lakers that they definitely can compete with the best of the league, and here they face a massive classdrop going against the slightly rejuvenated Warriors.
The Warriors have come back from their pitiful boxing day display against the Bucks with back to back wins against the hapless Pistons and Bulls, the latter being the result of a last minute buzzer beater 3 from journeyman Damion Lee. Wins are great to put on the board they were the least impressive wins of the season, and conversely to the Blazers they are the ones going up sharply in class of opponent. Kelly Oubre is doing absolutely nothing to fill the hole left by Klay Thompson, and Andrew Wiggins is up and down like a yo yo so far, but with many more downs. Draymond Green looks set to make his season debut however with no pre season minutes and coming off so many injuries, will unlikely have any impact on this. The Blazers are a -4 point favourite, and should have absolutely no issue despatching of the mediocre Warriors
BACK: Portland Trail Blazers -3.5 at $1.90 for 2.23 units.