As the 2024-25 NBA regular season concludes on Sunday across the league, a pivotal Western Conference clash will take place in the Bay.
The Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors have been in the thick of a wild, multi-team seeding battle for weeks, and it’ll have a ripple effect right down to the final day.
The Clips have effectively taken hold of their destiny, ripping off six straight wins and playing some of the best hoops in the league as the season nears a conclusion. Golden State, meanwhile, has endured a minor slump after a revitalized second half, helped by the addition of Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline.
With all eyes on this Western Conference battle this Sunday in San Francisco, check out our Los Angeles Clippers vs. Golden State Warriors predictions, including our NBA expert picks, with tip set for April 13 at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Matchup Los Angeles Clippers vs Golden State Warriors Overview
Teams: Los Angeles Clippers vs. Golden State Warriors
Date: Sunday, April 13, 2025
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Chase Center
Win Probabilities
The NBA win probabilities have been generated using insights from recent games along with expert predictions and picks. The Los Angeles Clippers are on a six-game win streak and have been given a chance to win this NBA game. Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors are working to improve their standings and also have a chance ,according to the NBA win probabilities.
Projected Final Score
The projected final score anticipates a close game in the Bay Area, but the Golden State Warriors will prevail with a final score of 108-105 Los Angeles Clippers.
Expert Prediction: Who Wins?
After the Golden State Warriors stormed out of the post-trade deadline gates, they looked to be headed toward the upper echelon of NBA contenders. With Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry in the lineup together, the Dubs started the partnership 19-2 and surged toward a top-four seed in the conference.
But a recent backslide has sunk the Warriors into the thick of a seeding battle in the Western Conference. The Curry and Butler tandem is now 22-6 together — still excellent — but enough of a backslide that Sunday’s game looms large.
The team’s recent performance is more relevant than the pair’s record. A brief window of dominant defense has subsided, with Golden State now on the fringe of the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating.
While Golden State has fallen back to the pack, the Los Angeles Clippers have surged into form as one of the league’s best teams. As Kawhi Leonard has rounded back into form, L.A. has reeled off six straight wins and, over its last 10 games, has played like the best team in basketball.
Over that span, the Clippers are second in offensive rating, third in defensive rating, and first in net rating. Leonard and James Harden will face plenty of questions come playoff time, but at this time and in this game, they are leading the NBA’s most dangerous team.
With playoff-level tensions at hand on Sunday, an incredibly intriguing matchup awaits.
Why the Los Angeles Clippers Can Cover
Sometimes, a team needs to identify and exploit a matchup-specific weakness to succeed in a given game — like the Warriors here. However, in other instances, a team is just performing at a tremendous level, and there’s logic in expecting that form to continue. That’s the case with the L.A. Clippers here.
Over their last 15 games, the Clippers are 13-2, with their two losses coming to the league’s two best teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder. Within that stretch are wins against the same Cavs, the West’s second-seed Houston Rockets, and eight playoff-bound teams.
That 15-game sample size has seen the Clippers rank first in offensive rating — and first, by a wide margin, in true shooting percentage, emphasizing their efficient offense — and second in defensive rating.
Put it together, and you have a team outscoring opponents by 17.1 points per 100 possessions. That figure is by far the best in the league, with the same gap between L.A. and second-place Oklahoma City as there is between Oklahoma City and seventh-place Golden State.
L.A. doesn’t necessarily have a matchup-specific strength to exploit against the Warriors on Sunday. Instead, it has the league’s best form, led by two stars, to count on.
Why the Golden State Warriors Can Cover
While the L.A. Clippers have discovered the NBA’s Best form in recent weeks, the Golden State Warriors have found a five-man lineup that has led to excellent play in its own right.
The Dubs’ preferred five of Steph Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody, and Draymond Green has neared 200 minutes together and have a fantastic net rating of 15.4 over those minutes.
It’s an excellent combination of offense and defense, and Golden State is going to need to lean on that five in both this matchup and moving forward into the postseason.
In this matchup, the Dubs will need the perimeter resistance provided by Butler and Podziemski, as well as the weak side and rim defense offered by Moody and Green. Though the Clips are an elite efficient offense, they remain two-point reliant, with a mid-range killer in Kawhi Leonard and both James Harden and Ivica Zubac feasting inside the paint.
L.A. is eighth in the league in points in the paint per game, averaging 51.2, with an added boost of kickouts provided by Harden and Leonard leading to more points, too. Golden State’s balanced defense limits that production considerably, allowing the second-fewest paint points per game at 45.4.
With an ability to at least limit what the Clippers do best offensively, the Warriors should be able to hang around — and potentially steal a win at home on the season’s final day.
How to Make Los Angeles Clippers vs. Golden State Warriors Picks
Ready to make picks on the Los Angeles Clippers vs. Golden State Warriors matchup on Sunday, April 13? Make sure to head over to Sportzino, where you can find every NBA game on the slate this weekend and so much more!
