MLB Picks 3/30 – LA Clippers at Cleveland Cavaliers

By Thomas Quaynor for Wannamakeabet.com

The Los Angeles Clippers (42-31) continue their four-game East Coast road trip against the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers (59-15) today at Rocket Arena. This is the second and final regular season matchup between the Clippers and Cavaliers. Los Angeles knocked off the visiting Cavs 132-119 twelve days ago on March 18. 

In that first matchup, Los Angeles used a 20-3 run over the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth to turn a one-point, highly-contested game into a 12-point Clippers lead (115-103) with 9:12 remaining in regulation. The Clippers went on to win comfortably. The the last six meetings between these teams have been split 3-3 with the home team winning each game. Cleveland is a 7.5-point favorite and the total is 230.5.

Cleveland is coming off a perplexing 133-122 loss at short-handed Detroit on Friday night. The Pistons were able to win the game without the services of All-Star Cade Cunningham, who sat out with a calf injury. Cleveland had won 12 in a row against Detroit prior to Friday’s loss. The Cavaliers trailed 108-89 with about nine minutes left in the game, they pulled within 119-117 with 3:31 remaining. Detroit then went on a 12-1 run to close out the win. 

Donovan Mitchell poured in a game-high 38 points (12-24 FG, 3-8 3Pt, 11-13 FT) in the loss for the Cavaliers. It was his highest scoring output since a 41-point effort in a win at Boston on Feb. 28. Darius Garland chipped in with 21 points (7-17 FG, 5-11 3Pt, 2-2 FT), six assists, five rebounds and a steal across 34 minutes. 

Los Angeles walloped the Brooklyn Nets 132-100 in their previous game on Friday night. L.A. broke the game open in the second quarter when they outscored the Nets 42-21 and took a 68-48 lead into halftime. They increased the lead to 41 (100-59) with 3:09 left in the third quarter. The Clippers went two-for-two on the road against the New York teams, they also defeated the Knicks 126-113 at Madison Square Garden two days prior to the victory in Brooklyn.

Kawhi Leonard scored a game-high 31 points (10-14 FG, 5-6 3Pt, 6-6 FT) and added six rebounds, four steals, two blocks and two assists across 27 minutes. Leonard scored 19 points in the decisive second quarter where the Clippers took control of the game. He sat the entire fourth quarter. Ivica Zubac registered 21 points (9-9 FG, 3-4 FT), 12 rebounds and a block in 25 minutes. It was his sixth straight double-double. Los Angeles has won four games in a row on the road. 

GAME STORYLINES: LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS

After the highly anticipated Paul George and Kawhi Leonard pairing was only able to produce middling regular seasons and underwhelming playoff results, the Los Angeles Clippers decided to pull the plug on the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George experience after five injury-riddled seasons (2020-2024) last July. Los Angeles let Paul George sign elsewhere as a free agent which opened the door for a new era of Clippers basketball in 2024-25. The Clippers took the court this season without Paul George and Kawhi Leonard on the roster for the first time since October 2018.

Expectations for the 2024-25 Los Angeles Clippers were subdued due to the unceremonious exit of Paul George and the unknown status of Kawhi Leonard. The secretive Leonard suffered an undisclosed injury in Game Three of the Clippers first-round series loss to Dallas. Leonard did not play the rest of that series and nobody was sure when he’d return.

Starting the season without Kawhi Leonard and losing Paul George was not a problem for the 2024-25 Los Angeles Clippers as the scoring tandem of James Harden (22.5 pts, 8.6 asts, 5.8 rebs, 1.4 stls, 3 threes) and Norman Powell (career-high 22.4 pts, 3.3 rebs, 1.3 stls, 3.1 threes, 48.7% from 2, 42.4% from 3), along with the outstanding post play from center Ivica Zubac (16.5 pts, 12.5 rebs, 2.5 asts, 1.2 blks, 62.2% from 2) carried the Clippers to a respectable 19-15 record sans Kawhi Leonard.

The combination of James Harden and Norman Powell are putting up similar points per game production (44.9) to what Kawhi Leonard and Paul George (46.3) did last year. The 27-year-old Zubac is having a career-year in his 9th season. Zubac has notched 17 double-doubles in 19 games since the All-Star break. He’s established himself as one of the top centers in the NBA this season.

Kawhi Leonard made his season debut on Jan. 4 against the Atlanta Hawks after missing the first 34 games of the year. Leonard got off to a sluggish start initially but has started to resemble the elite, two-way All-NBA performer he’s known to be over the past few weeks. Leonard’s stellar play has led to the Clippers excellent run of late where they’ve won 7 of 8 and 10 of the last 12 games. 

On the season, Kawhi Leonard is averaging 20.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.1 threes while shooting 49.4 percent from the floor and 40.8 percent from long distance across 30 games. He’s averaging 24.6 ppg and 6.9 rpg since the All-Star break. Unfortunately, Leonard has been ruled out of today’s clash with Cleveland as he’ll sit the first leg of a back-to-back set but will play at Orlando on Monday night. If Leonard can remain healthy, the Clippers look like a team that can make it to the NBA Finals.  

GAME STORYLINES: CLEVELAND

It didn’t take the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise long to recover from losing future Hall of Famer LeBron James as a free agent following the 2017-18 season. Cleveland made the unexpected and bold decision to trade for then 25-year-old Utah Jazz superstar guard Donovan Mitchell — who had just 2 years left on his contract — in September 2022. Some media members believed that Mitchell desired to play in a bigger market like New York, Brooklyn, Los Angeles or Boston, and would leave Cleveland as a free agent. 

The decision to trade for Donovan Mitchell has worked out perfectly for Cleveland as he continued to perform at an elite level in his first two years with the team while leading the Cavs to the playoffs in both years. Mitchell then surprised a lot of outsiders by agreeing to a three-year, $150 million extension with Cleveland prior to the season in July. Retaining Mitchell was a harbinger for things to come for Cleveland.

With Donovan Mitchell locked up through the 2028-29 season and a talented returning cast, the Cavaliers began the 2024-25 campaign on fire by winning their first 15 games. They became the fourth team in NBA history to start the year 15-0. The Cavs maintained their dominant ways throughout the season and had a shot at achieving the historic 70-win mark until a recent four-game skid. Despite 70 wins no longer being possible, Cleveland still produced a monumental season that has seen them amass separate winning streaks of 15 and 16 games respectively. 

On the season, Donovan Mitchell is averaging a team-high 24 points, 4.9 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 3.3 threes per game while shooting 44.1 percent from the floor in 67 games. Mitchell was named an All-Star this season for the sixth time in his 8-year career. Darius Garland (20.7 pts, 6.7 asts, 1.2 stls, 2.9 threes, 47.2% from 2, 40.3% from 3) and Evan Mobley (18.5 pts, 9.3 rebs, 3.1 asts, 1.6 blks, 1.1 threes, 56.4% from 2) were selected as All-Stars this season alongside Mitchell. 

The improvement of 23-year-old Evan Mobley was also instrumental to Cleveland’s tremendous success this season. Mobley entered the NBA with huge expectations after the Cavaliers selected him third overall in the 2021 NBA Draft out of USC. He’s now living up to those lofty expectations after being criticized for his lack of consistency and timid play during the first three years of his career. Mobley and center Jarrett Allen (13.6 pts, 10 rebs, 70.2% from the floor) provide an imposing frontcourt tandem for Cleveland.  

THE PICK: CAVALIERS (-7.5)

The Clippers are playing very well right now while the Cavs have cooled off a bit over the last 2 weeks — 3-5 in their last 8 games, but with Kawhi Leonard sitting this one out, I don’t see how the Clippers will be able to keep it close. The Clippers had a good shot to win this game outright if Leonard played. Lay the Points and take the Cavaliers.

MLB Picks 3/30 – LA Clippers at Cleveland Cavaliers