The Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers close out Tuesday’s 14-game NBA slate at Intuit Dome.
The pregame narrative: Houston has cooled off following a red-hot November, but the visitor is still a sizeable road favourite tonight against the downtrodden Clippers. Los Angeles has lost 14 of its past 16 games and is 4-8 at home this season.
Check out my Rockets vs. Clippers SGP predictions for Dec. 23, featuring Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard.
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Rockets vs. Clippers predictions
Parlay: Rockets -3.5 | Durant 2+ threes | Leonard 6+ rebounds (+270)
Rockets -3.5 (-240): The Clippers snapped a five-game losing streak on Saturday by toppling their cross-town rival Lakers, 103-88.
But let’s not throw a party for them. Austin Reaves was sidelined, Luka Doncic got hurt mid-game, and the Clippers still barely managed to crack 100 points.
L.A. has the eighth-worst offensive rating and sixth-worst net rating in the NBA. The team is pretty much worth fading on a nightly basis.
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Houston is 5-5 in its last 10 games, but that includes a win over the Clippers.
Overall, the Rockets are third in net rating and sport a solid 7-6 ATS record as road favourites. I’m happy to back the better team on a teased-down margin.
NBA SGP legs
Durant 2+ threes (-210): Durant isn’t putting up 30 points a night anymore … but he’s not far off.
KD is averaging 25.3 PPG on 50.9/43.5/89.3 shooting splits, and he’s been red-hot from beyond the arc over his last 10 games:
- 2.6 threes/game
- 53.1% shooting
- 2+ threes eight times
-> Back Durant and Leonard on Tuesday night
He went 3-of-5 from deep against the Clippers earlier this month, and he shouldn’t have a difficult time replicating that stat line.
Los Angeles allows the third-highest opponent 3-point percentage in the NBA (38.1%).
Leonard 6+ rebounds (-159): This is a tough matchup for Leonard. The Rockets have the best rebounding rate in the NBA, thanks in part to a breadth of capable bigs coming off the bench.
But that didn’t matter to Leonard on Dec. 11, when he had nine rebounds in 41 minutes.
Kawhi has been crashing the glass this month and playing a ton of minutes. That makes me confident he can reach this milestone against any team.
He’s averaging 35.4 minutes in December and has six-plus rebounds in seven of his last nine games.
Additionally, Clippers big man — and the NBA’s No. 3 rebounder — Ivica Zubac is out with an ankle sprain. That means Leonard should have an even bigger role on the glass.
Rockets vs. Clippers predictions made at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 23, 2025.
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Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf — mainly because it’s easier than actually playing — but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.