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Along with the Milwaukee Bucks in the East, the LA Clippers are the only other remaining team that’s yet to play a game this season. That changes tonight as they take on their cross-town rivals the Lakers in what is a long awaited match-up between the two rivals.
We take a look at a points spread bet, along with an Overs pick backed pretty strongly by the stats.
A lot is expected from the “younger brother” the Clippers this season after their moves in the offseason and the return from injury of one Kawhi Leonard. The Klaw missed the entire season last year, it’ll be interesting to see how many minutes per game he plays and if he load manages this time around. On paper the Clippers are the superior team here and they have the head-to-head stats to show for it. Over the last 10 meetings they’ve beaten the Lakers 8 times, covering the spread in as many games.
The Lakers didn’t stand much chance in their season opener at Golden State. Even though the game was somewhat close early, the Warriors were never in doubt as they cruised to a 14 point victory. The LA big 3 of Davis, James and Westbrook put up solid numbers combining for 77 points, but a lot of those were empty stats as the game was pretty much out of hand in the 3rd quarter. What is worrying for the Lakers is their outside shooting as they converted on just 10 of their 40 attempts from the perimeter, good enough for only 25%. I know it’s early in the season, but this is a very limited roster when it comes to shooting the ball and their bench production is one of the worst in the NBA.
I’m expecting the Clippers to assert themselves and send out a clear message in tonight’s game. With impressive records in head-to-head games (7 wins in a row) and the Lakers already having internal issues with Westbrook, I think backing the Clippers to cover here is a no-brainer.
The total has already gone over once for the Lakers as their game vs the Warriors finished with a whopping 232 points. I imagine that number will hit quite a few more times this season as this team just isn’t equipped properly to get stops down the stretch.
The Clippers might not have the three-point capabilities like Golden State does, but they can still hurt the Lakers in a variety of ways. Looking at the 4 games played between them last season, we can see that tonight’s total of 224 points was surpassed in 2 of the 4 games played, including the last game which finished with 243 points.
Trends are also suggesting tonight’s game will finish over the total as the Lakers have cashed on that bet 10 times in their last 14 games overall and in 5 of 6 vs teams from the Pacific Division. Until the shooting and defensive woes are sorted in Lakerland, I think backing the over is the way to go in their games. Take the points in this one.
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