NBA tips, odds, bets on Thursday

The Los Angeles Clippers return home to face the Suns on Thursday night after an impressive two-game road trip that included wins over Golden State and Denver.

Surprisingly, Los Angeles' defense carried them despite being without Kawhi Leonard and having a historically poor defensive player in James Harden in the starting lineup.

The Clippers have the third-best defensive rating through the first three games of the 2024-25 regular season.

They are also among the top five NBA defenses in paint points and second-chance points allowed.

Suns vs Clippers odds

The only area of ​​defense where Los Angeles wasn't elite was defending the 3-point line, as opponents shot just over 37% from deep.

The Suns have split their last two games against the Lakers and Mavericks.

Thanks to Kevin Durant's efficient 31-point performance, they beat Dallas by double digits.

Phoenix's offense is firing on all cylinders as the Suns rank third in scoring percentage, sixth in effective field goal percentage and seventh in assist percentage.

The Suns' signing of Tyus Jones at point guard was a game-changer and could propel them to the top of a highly competitive Western Conference.

Betting on the NBA?

When these teams met on opening night in Phoenix, the Clippers outscored the Suns by 20 points thanks to a 21-point, nine-rebound effort from Ivica Zubac.

The Suns shot 40% from 3-point range and still narrowly eked out a 116-113 overtime win because they lacked size and skill on the glass.

That should be a factor again in this rematch early in the season.

THE GAME: Clippers +5 (-110, FanDuel)

Why you should trust New York Post Betting

Andrew Norton hinders the NBA, WNBA, NFL, college basketball and football, UFC and golf. During the 2022-23 NBA season, he achieved an outstanding 14.1% ROI by cashing in 60% of his NBA spread picks and led Tallysight in the SportsIQ metric.