Who’s playing
Los Angeles Clippers @ Oklahoma City Thunder
Current records: Los Angeles 19-14, Oklahoma City 27-5
How to watch
- When: Thursday, January 2, 2025 at 8 p.m. ET
- Or: Paycom Center – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- TV: Fan Duel SN – Oklahoma
- Follow: CBS Sports app
- Online broadcast: Watch select NBA games on Fubo (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
- Ticket cost: $19.60
What you need to know
Clippers fans have better hope that the team plays a hell of a game on Thursday, because the odds are decidedly against them. Their road trip will continue as they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder at 8 p.m. ET at the Paycom Center. Both allowed few points on average (Clippers: 107.8, Thunder: 103.3), so any points scored will be well deserved.
The Clippers are heading into this one after bettors pegged last week’s low/under at 218.5, but even that proved too high. It will take them some time to recover from the 122-86 score inflicted by the Spurs on Tuesday. Los Angeles was in a tough spot after the first half, already up 63-43.
Unsurprisingly, given the score, the Clippers struggled to work together and finished the game with just 17 assists. They were demolished by their opponents in this department as the Spurs posted 37.
Meanwhile, the Thunder had already won six straight (a stretch in which they outscored their opponents by an average of 12.2 points) and they went ahead and made it seven on Tuesday. They won against Minnesota by a score of 113-105. Oklahoma City trailed 42-30 with 5:52 left in the second quarter, but they still came back for a handy eight-point victory.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, going 15 of 23 en route to 40 points plus two steals.
With the loss, Los Angeles snapped its three-game winning streak and increased its record to 19-14. As for Oklahoma City, they have performed incredibly well recently as they have won 16 of their last 17 matchups, which has resulted in a nice improvement to their 27-5 record this season.
The Clippers fell short against the Thunder in their previous matchup in November 2024, losing 134-128. A big factor in the loss was the dominant performance of Gilgeous-Alexander, who nearly had a double-double with 45 points and nine assists. Back in force, will the Clippers manage to stop him this time? There’s only one way to find out.
Odds
Oklahoma City is a big favorite with 9.5 points against Los Angeles, according to the latest NBA Odds.
The punters were perfectly in tune with the betting community on this point, as the game opened with a 9.5 point spread and stayed there.
The over/under is 217.5 points.
See NBA Pick for every game, including this one, from SportsLine’s advanced computer model. Get Picks Now.
History of the series
Oklahoma City has won 7 of its last 10 games against Los Angeles.
- November 11, 2024 – Oklahoma City 134 against. Los Angeles 128
- November 2, 2024 – Oklahoma City 105 vs. Los Angeles 92
- February 22, 2024 – Oklahoma City 129 vs. Los Angeles 107
- January 16, 2024 – Los Angeles 128 against. Oklahoma City 117
- December 21, 2023 – Oklahoma City 134 vs. Los Angeles 115
- March 23, 2023 – Los Angeles 127 vs. Oklahoma City 105
- March 21, 2023 – Oklahoma City 101 vs. Los Angeles 100
- October 27, 2022 – Oklahoma City 118 vs. Los Angeles 110
- October 25, 2022 – Oklahoma City 108 vs. Los Angeles 94
- April 10, 2022 – Los Angeles 138 vs. Oklahoma City 88
