With a 7-1 ATS/SU record over their last 8 games, plus a Minnesota Timberwolves loss yesterday, the OKC Thunder are now the leading team in the Western Conference. Not a lot of people saw this scenario unfolding 60 games into the regular season, but here we are. The young Thunder cannot afford to relax though, the defending champions Nuggets are just a half game back and currently on a 6-game win streak. Tonight’s game against the Lakers will be a tough one, this just isn’t a good match-up for SGA and co. as they simply don’t have the size to compete with the long Lakers wings and Anthony Davis. Even last night we saw how big of an issue going up against a tall center is for this team as Jusuf Nurkic grabbed 31 rebounds against them. Thankfully OKC won that game, they’ll be playing with no rest against the Lakers tonight.
LeBron James once again made history as he became the first and only player in NBA history to surpass 40,000 points for his career. However, the feat happened in a loss to the Denver Nuggets 124-114 at crypo.com arena. The Lakers are in a complicated situation as they’re battling the Golden State Warriors for the 9th seed and home court advantage in a potential play-in tournament scenario. A win here would elevate the Lakers over them after they lost last night, LA comes into tonight’s game as a small 1.5 point favorite. That’s mainly due to their 4-1 ATS/SU record in the last 5 meetings, they’ve beaten the Thunder by 7 and 9 points in the last 2 games head-to-head. LeBron and co. will also be encouraged by 4 wins in 5 home games, at 22-10 SU they’re one of the better home teams in the league.
