Clippers vs Nets Picks, Prediction for Wednesday, Nov. 8
Here's everything you need to know about Clippers vs Nets, including our picks and expert prediction for tonight (Wednesday, Nov. 8).
The Brooklyn Nets are … fine?
The Los Angeles Clippers are … interesting?
It's only November 8, so we don't know how good anyone actually is yet… except for the Denver Nuggets, they're amazing. But everyone else, we'll see. This game has storyline and betting intrigue and, with former Net James Harden now a Clipper, a tantalizing sound-wave you can't ignore dead in the middle of it all.
Let's get to our Clippers vs Nets prediction and picks.
Clippers vs Nets Prediction
Outlook on the Clippers
The Clippers' first game as their newly constructed selves was a 111-97 loss against the New York Knicks on Monday at Madison Square Garden.
This puts the Clippers at 3-3 in a decent start to their season, pretty positive in terms of both production and availability, although it only translated to wins over the Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs and Orlando Magic.
Against the Knicks, who needed the win to avoid a 2-5 start, the Clippers new foursome (read not "big four") of Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook scored 62 points on 24-for-49 shooting. The efficiency was there for everyone except for a dud of a game from George, who ended the night with 10 points on 2-for-11 shooting, his worst scoring night in 10 months.
The team also struggled with 22 turnovers on the night, and played at a glacial 93.3 pace against the Knicks, who are the fourth-slowest team in the league.
Harden debuted with 17 points and six assists while shooting 6-for-9 from the field and 2-for-3 from three.
George, despite his poor night, is posting a ridiculous 25.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.5 steals per contest on 52/47/94 shooting on a slight team-best 27.5 percent usage.
Leonard, whose usage is 27.4 percent, is at 22.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game on 48/45/67 shooting — he's only at 3.0 free throw attempts per game this season and has nearly his second-lowest career free throw rate (to his 2020-21 Clipper season).
Westbrook, who is second in minutes (33.3) behind George (33.5), had 15.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.8 steals per contest on 53/38/50 shooting. The UCLA alum is shooting 3.5 threes and 1.7 free throws per contest and has a career-low 22.1 usage.
Something to watch for — Against the Knicks specifically, the usage for the new Clipper core four (again, not big four) tallied as follows:
Westbrook: 25.6%
Leonard: 23.8%
George: 23.5%
Harden 18.5%
Expect Harden to take a few percentage points from Westbrook as this combination continues to build continuity.
Mason Plumlee (knee) and Terence Mann (ankle) are questionable to play.
Outlook on the Nets
The 3-4 Nets had a compelling 129-125 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, and are increasingly reminding me of their 2018-19 fun playoff team led by D'Angelo Russell and Spence Dinwiddie (initially Caris LeVert) before losing a five-game series to the Philadelphia 76ers in the playoffs.
This team, I think, may have a similar fate, and along the way, it included many fun match-ups as they had on Monday night.
Cam Thomas gave the Bucks 45 points (!) on 17-for-33 shooting and 6-for-16 from three, much of which was opposite of Damian Lillard, who struggled again with 21 points on 5-for-15 shooting.
Thomas is closing in on 30 points per game, though he's a boom-or-bust-guard who really just scores, he can score. But other than Mikal Bridges, who added 31 points on 12-for-21 shooting, the Nets collectively shot 20-for-47 for 49 points and zero free throws — only Thomas (5-for-6) and Bridges (6-for-7) got to the line.
As alluded to, Thomas is averaging 28.7 points on 48/33/84 shooting. Bridges follows with 21.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists on 48/33/90.
And off the bench, Lonnie Walker — who had 19 against the Bucks — sits at 15.5 points per game.
This is one of the worst defensive teams in the league, even with Ben Simmons, Dorian Finney-Smith and Bridges.
Nic Claxton has a high-ankle sprain and could miss several weeks, while Cam Johnson is still nursing an injured calf, though he's expected to be reevaluated later this week.
Clippers vs Nets Picks, Odds
| Clippers Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Over/Under | Moneyline |
-5.5 -110 | o231.5 -108 | -205 |
| Nets Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Over/Under | Moneyline |
+5.5 -110 | u231.5 -110 | +172 |
Now, here are bets I'm looking at for Clippers vs. Nets.
- James Harden over 6.5 assists (-122 via FanDuel) — Harden had six in his Clippers debut against the slow, defensively competent Knicks. I think Harden will mostly be a facilitator on this team — he'll score, too, just not at the rate he used to — and I think he'll average north of this before too long. The best version of whatever this Clipper team could be has Harden averaging at least seven assists per contest.
- Ivica Zubac over 7.5 rebounds (-132 via FanDuel) — Zubac rebounding ladder up to 10+ rebs (+185 via FanDuel). Zubac has an 18.1 rebounding percentage, his lowest since 2020-21, but has a career-best on-court +/- per 100 possessions at +14.5 and a +13.9 on/off. Without Plumlee, he'll probably play more than his 24.8 minutes per game (he had 30 against the Knicks). He's gotten eight or more rebounds in all but two of the six games he's played, and while he's only gotten to 10 once, I'm playing the ladder because the Nets are playing Finney-Smith, Simmons and Bridges in their frontcourt. It's one that Zubac could tear up on the glass.
- Clippers 1Q winner/match winner (+120 via FanDuel) — The 3-3 Clippers are 4-2 in the first quarters. The only teams to outpace them were the Magic, who they came back to beat, and the Utah Jazz. The -4.5 line scares me, but I do think the Clippers could beat this short-handed Nets team, who are relying heavily on a bunch of dudes you can't completely trust on a night-to-night basis, as much fight as they'll present.
Pick: Clippers 1Q/Game Winner (+120 via FanDuel)
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