NBA Basketball
2026-02-02 - Philadelphia 76ers at LA Clippers
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : NBA Basketball
Monday 2nd February 2025 - Scheduled 10pm
3am (British Time)
Preview
This is an important week in the NBA, although the regular season continues to be seen as one of the weakest in North American sports.
An eighty-two game schedule feels too long, while the NBA doesn't really get going until the trade deadline is completed and the All Star Game is played. That deadline is now a couple of days away, while we are fast approaching the NFL Super Bowl, which is another key date that seems to swing the interest into the NBA ahead of the start of the Major League Baseball season.
It also means this is the time of the regular season when teams are really beginning to sit down and focus on the ambitions for the remainder of the year.
A team like the LA Clippers (23-25) look to have found momentum just in time after a miserable start to the season- there was a real hope that the Clippers could use the veteran experience on the roster to try and challenge some of the best teams in the Western Conference. Thing started slowly, but the Clippers have won ten of the last eleven games at home and they have moved into the top ten in the Conference standings.
There is still a third of the regular season to play, although finding a way to close to the top six is going to be a challenge.
They will be looking to keep the good times going at home, although the status of James Harden is still in the air having missed the last game in Phoenix for personal reasons. The Clippers will be hoping Harden is available and can use the motivation of being snubbed for the All Star Game to fire up his team, which is the same for fellow veteran Kawhi Leonard.
Even without Harden, the Clippers have been playing well enough Defensively to believe they can contain the 76ers for stretches of this regular season game.
Joel Embiid looks to be rounding back to the kind of form that made him a star in the League, but Paul George will not be available having been suspended by the NBA. He violated the NBA's anti-drug policy and will miss the remainder of the regular season, while George has taken full responsibility for the mistake made, and that does mean there is more pressure on Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
Both have shown they can get into a smooth rhythm Offensively, but the 76ers remain a work in progress on the other side of the court and that is something that the Clippers can exploit.
With the likelihood of making one or two more stops compared with the visiting team, and a Clippers Offensive unit that can find room for the three point shooting, you have to favour the hosts in being able to win this game.
Philadelphia won a close game at home against the LA Clippers earlier this season, but revenge looks to be in the air.
Prediction
Lay the points with the home team and look for the stronger Defensive numbers to come through for the Clippers.
The Pick :
LA Clippers 112-105 Philadelphia 76ers
