On Thursday night, the NBA playoffs are continuing and 3 games are going to happen. The last one is going to be between Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns. After 2 games, the series is tied 1-1. It started with a shocking Clippers win on the road. Phoenix was down by as many as 16 points but was able to get the lead but in the 4th quarter, the visitors came back and won. The next game was different as the Clippers were better in the 1st half, they even had a 13-point lead but the Suns turned around the whole game in the 2nd half and went on to win by 14 points. In this game, I'm predicting that the Suns are going to cover the handicap.

There's one particular reason why I'm predicting Phoenix to cover the spread. It's because the Clippers' leader Kawhi Leonard won't play tonight. He has a right knee sprain which he got in the 1st game, he was able to play through it in Phoenix but now he's going to sit out. This is a huge blow for the Clippers because they now will miss both their leaders - Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. During the regular season, Leonard missed 30 games and Los Angeles won only 11 which is 36%!

Leonard in the 1st two games averaged 34.5 points per game. The next best scorer is Russell Westbrook with 18.5 and Eric Gordon with 15.5. It's safe to say that nobody can rely on Russell Westbrook to deliver good performance and Eric Gordon as your 2nd best option isn't a great solution. The biggest question is: who's going to guard Kevin Durant? This is going to be a huge problem for the Clippers because Leonard limited Durant as he averages only 26 points per game but Devin Booker has added 32. Without their best defender, it's going to be a very long night for the Clippers.

There's one more thing that goes in favor of Phoenix. During the regular season, the Clippers covered the spread in just 46% of the home games which is one of the worst results in the whole league. The Suns have won the last two matchups in Los Angeles and I'm very sure that this game will also end in their favor.