As the 2015 NBA Playoffs for the Western Conference move towards a close, the 5th Game of the 2nd Round of the Western Conference Semifinals takes place on Tuesday the 12th of May 2015 with the No. 3 Clippers of Los Angeles playing the No.2 seed Rockets of Houston with this Game 5 being played at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas with tip-off scheduled for 9:30 PM ET and can be seen on TNT TV.
The early betting odds from Vegas have the Clippers of L.A. favored at -2 with the Total 219 and -130 on the Money Line, with the comeback on the Rockets of Houston at +2 and +110 on the Money Line. After this Game 5 in Houston with the Clippers leading the Series 3-1, the 6th Game (if needed) will be played on Thursday the 14th of May in California with the Rockets at the Clippers with the time TBD. Then the 7th and Final Game (if needed) will be played in Houston on Sunday the 17th of May 2015 with the Clippers at the Rockets with the time TBD.
Taking a brief recap of the games in this 7 Game Western Conference Series, the 1st and 2nd Games were played in Houston with the Clippers winning Game 1 over the Rockets 117-101 while the Rockets at home again in the 2nd Game beat the Clippers 115-109. Then in the 3rd Game in Los Angeles the Clippers beat the Rockets for their 2nd win 124-99 and take a 2-1 lead in the Series. In the 4th in Los Angeles on Sunday the 10th of May the Clippers again beat the Rockets 128-95 increasing their lead in the Series to 3-1.
Thus the Clippers of Los Angles are now just a victory shy of making it to the Western Conference Final for their 1st time, as they routed the Rockets of Houston in that Game 4 at 128-95, and they place the Rockets in a dire position that they must win or die out of this series.
If you’re an NBA fan of the Clippers of L.A. and Bet on NBA at your favorite Sportsbook, then you must have the feeling that the Rockets just can’t seem to put a stop to the Clipper, especially after that 1st Game of the 2015 Western Conference Playoffs. Their win in that 3rd game was the 2nd straight game that they clouted the Rockets this time in the 4th Game by some 33 points, which seemed to be a repeat of the 3rd Game and now in this 5th Game they have the Rockets a game away from being out of the Playoffs.
The main reason the Clipper have dominated the Rockets to date has been their team performances in the area of shade, as the outscored the Rockets in the paint 100-55 in the 3rd and 4th Games of this Series and won the 2 games by an average of scoring 29 points more than the Rockets. The Clipper fans have to be excited that C. Paul their star guard is back from his injury to his hamstring and seems to now be getting back in the scoring groove. The Clippers of L.A. in their ultimate 10 road games are 9 and 1 against the spread and 8 and 2 straight up.
If you happen to be Rockets of Houston you are aware that your team is the 1st since the Spurs back in 2001 lost 2 straight playoff games by some 25 points in the playoff games. Many of you fans are wondering what’s wrong with your 2nd seed team coming into these playoffs, so to explain somewhat, let’s start with their defenses which has been outright bad in this series to date, and have turned into the worst defensive unit in these 2015 NBA Conference Playoffs, and have allowed 114.2 average points per game to their opponents in 9 games to date. Making things worse in their offense has been struggling also.
If the Rockets are to remain in this Playoff Western Conference Series they need to win this game 1st by regenerating their old form with the offense and for their star Howard to discover his old form of averaging some 18.5 points per game and 11 rebounds per game in his 18 games in Houston during the regular season. Houston in their ultimate 10 games in Houston was 6 and 4 against the spread and 8 and 2 straight up this season. Thus, the experts expect just that to happen as the Rockets of Houston come alive and beat the Clippers 113-104 to move to the 6th Game.