NBA Basketball

2026-04-15 - Golden State Warriors at LA Clippers

A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown

Golden State Warriors @ LA Clippers
United States : NBA Basketball Play In Tournament
Wednesday 15th April 2026 - Scheduled 10pm EST
3am (British Time)

Preview

Several months ago, these two teams would have felt pretty differently about how the season could shape up, but things can change very quickly.

The Golden State Warriors (37-45) lost Jimmy Butler to a season-ending injury after a decent start and had been looking forward to progressing beyond the Western Conference Second Round with a full season of Butler playing alongside Steph Curry.

An ageing team has had setbacks with injuries to other key players, including Curry, and it does feel like the Warriors are struggling to build a team around their Hall of Fame superstar to give him the send off he would like. There will be decisions to make for Steph Curry in the off-season and Head Coach Steve Kerr has already made it clear that Curry is one of a number of players returning to action that will be on limited minutes, even in this potentially 'one and done' spot.

The season has developed differently for the LA Clippers (42-40) who just missed out on the top eight in the Western Conference and having two shots to make the post-season. Early on it looked like the Clippers were not going to make the top ten, never mind the top eight, but they rounded into some form before making the decision to help the roster become a little younger.

Kawhi Leonard, a former NBA Champion, is still here, but Paul George had already departed and James Harden was allowed to be traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The arrival of Darius Garland could be a positive for the future development of the Clippers roster, but four losses in six games before beating the Golden State Warriors on the final day prevented this team from the City of Angels from avoiding this elimination opener in the Play In Tournament.

They are hosting the Warriors again after beating them by 5 points on Sunday, but this is a much different setting and Kawhi Leonard will not be sitting out.

Both teams are very familiar with one another, which should make it a competitive contest, but the hosts are rightly favoured.

This is mainly down to the superior Defensive ability of the LA Clippers compared with this current iteration of the Golden State Warriors.

You can never dismiss someone like Steph Curry and all of the experience he has in the post-season, but injuries have slowed him down and the roster is going to be challenged. Minutes limitations might be something of a mind game from Steve Kerr, but there is no doubt that the Warriors are struggling, whereas the Clippers will look stronger with Kawhi Leonard back in the rotation.

The Warriors changed the NBA with their ability from three point range, but the Clippers can match that and importantly have the younger squad which can bring the intensity to challenge those shooters with more success.

Size can also be important and it feels like the Clippers will win the Rebounding battle, while the hosts can take the mental edge of having won all three meetings between these teams this calendar year. The last two have been won over the five weeks and the win on Sunday was without Leonard, which all should make LA feel pretty good about themselves.

One negative is the way the Number 9 Seed has performed in the Play In Tournament, but the LA Clippers may have a bit too much for this hurting Golden State Warriors team and overcome that trend.

Prediction

The line looks like it will be close, but there is just enough reason here to back the LA Clippers to cover the spread on the way through to the Friday 'winner takes all' Play In Tournament game.