Clipped

As utterly ludicrous as this sounds, we actually believed last night, with the Clippers up 81-79 over the Lakers and roughly seven minutes to play, that we had something better than an outside shot to cover a 15 1/2 point line.

Alas, only the truest of saps couldn't see what was to come next: 22 straight Laker points en route to a 106-88 final.

You can't make this stuff up.

On to Thursday's TNT doubleheader...

ORLANDO (-4.5) over Philadelphia - The Sixers have been shaky so far, particularly on the road. They blew a 23-point lead in Atlanta last week and got hammered from start to finish by Miami last night. We'll wait for them to get back home to the Wachovia Center.

Houston (-4.5) over PORTLAND - I present to you one Acks Minakyan, diehard Trail Blazers fan. His thoughts:

"I can get Houston for single digits? I love that Houston line. That's way too...low. Because apparently everyone and [his] mother loves Portland this season. Which is really...stupid, if I've mentioned that before. It's really...stupid. On a scale of one to really...stupid, it's off the charts. They suck. They're going to continue to suck for years to come."

Here's guessing the outlook for Kevin Pritchard's team is a bit rosier than Acks makes it seem. But we do like such a low line for a Houston team that is quite good.

Last night: 7-6

Season: 37-26