Los Angeles Clippers vs. Houston Rockets Game 2 NBA Odds Preview, Betting Stats

The Los Angeles Clippers did not need Chris Paul in Monday's 117-101 Game 1 victory over the Houston Rockets as 7.5-point underdogs, and the status of their All-Star guard, according to ESPN.com's Arash Markazi, remains up in the air for Game 2 Wednesday due to a lingering hamstring injury.

While the Clippers may or may not have Paul available, they picked up where they left off after ousting the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in seven games and have now won 12 of the past 15 meetings with the Rockets to go along with an impressive 10-5 mark against the spread, according to the Odds Shark NBA Database.

Los Angeles trailed Houston 50-46 at halftime in the series opener but outscored the home team by 10 points in both the third and fourth quarters to turn in arguably the most impressive Game 1 performance by any team in the NBA playoffs.

In fact, of the three road teams that won Game 1 in the second round, the Clippers are the only one that shifted from underdogs to favorites in the series based on that lone win. Regardless, they enter Game 2 as seven-point underdogs at sportsbooks that Odds Shark monitors, with Paul still listed as questionable on the injury report.

Blake Griffin was the star for Los Angeles in Paul's absence, recording his second consecutive triple-double with 26 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists while Austin Rivers stepped into the starting lineup and finished with 17 points and four steals.

Meanwhile, the Rockets got a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds from center Dwight Howard, with NBA MVP runner-up James Harden totaling 20 points and 12 assists.

Harden took only 13 shots from the field, his lowest amount since attempting 11 in Game 1 of the team's first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, which resulted in a 118-108 victory.

However, he went 15-of-17 from the free-throw line in that game and tied a playoff low with just six attempts from the charity stripe against the Clippers.

Game 1 of the Clippers vs. Rockets betting matchup bucked an under series trend, going over for the first time in five meetings and just the fifth time in the past 20 games between the teams. The over has cashed in four of Los Angeles' last five postseason games overall, though, along with three of four for Houston.