Getty Images Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers will look to continue their five-game winning streak as head to Houston to take on Russell Westbrook, James Harden and the small-ball Rockets on Thursday.
Here’s everything you need to know to watch the game on TV, or how to watch a live stream online if you don’t have cable:
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Start Time: 8 p.m. ET
TV Channel: TNT
Live Stream Without Cable Log-in: FuboTV, AT&T TV Now, Sling TV, Hulu With Live TV or YouTube TV
Clippers vs Rockets Preview
The Clippers are finally healthy and it is paying dividends. The team has won five in a row and are looking like the contender most expected at the start of the season with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George leading the way.
“It’s been great,” Leonard told reporters of the recent string of success. “Knowing we’re healthy, we’re a tough ballclub. And it’s just only going to make us better getting used to each other out there on the floor, knowing each other’s spots, hearing each other’s voices. We’re just going to keep getting better.”
The Clippers quieted the Thunder in their most recent win 109-94. Leonard netted 25, while George added 16.
“One of the things we’ve not done, that you would have thought before the year we would do a lot of, is made very few defensive runs,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “We’re starting to do that now. Our guys are starting to see that, they’re talking about making defensive runs now instead of offensive runs.”
The Rockets looked like a Western Conference juggernaut of late too, proving many wrong with their small-ball approach. But after six wins in a row, a loss to the lowly Knicks was not what the doctor ordered.
“We had a letup,” Rockets guard James Harden told reporters. “We weren’t consistent with our defensive principles throughout the course of the game, and we paid for it. Simple.”
The experiment to run a lineup with 245-pound, 6-foot-5 PJ Tucker at center has paid dividends.
“There are going to be holes,” D’Antoni said. “It’s not going to be like it’s going to be an easy win. They’re going to exploit things if we can’t stay in front of our guys. Now it becomes, can you guard the guy in front of you?
“But it’s them, too. And we happen to think we have the best two one-on-one players in the league. Where’s their rim protection when we’re shooting 3s out there? If we can play our style the right way, then they’ve got to make a choice also.”
The Rockets have won two of the three matchups this season, including a 122-117 victory last time the teams met up. Russell Westbrook exploded in that game for 40 points and 10 rebounds and both George and Leonard were active.
Houston is a 1-point underdog for the contest according to Odds Shark, with a total set at 236.5.