Don’t worry, this is the Clippers and the Lakers battling for Los Angeles sports betting supremacy (or, rather, the Lakers battling to wrest supremacy from the Clippers); two teams that, unlike the Rams and Chargers in the NFL, Angelenos actually like and care about. Yes, even the Lakers; after all they hired fan-favorite Magic Johnson president of basketball operations and selected Lonzo Ball as the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft. Maybe happy days are here again.
- Date: Thursday, 19th October
- Time: 10:35 PM
- Venue: Staples Center
Online sportsbook odds:
Clippers -5 (-110) 218 (-110) -200
Lakers +5 (-110) 218 (-110) +170
Life without Chris Paul
The Clippers received seven players (Patrick Beverley, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell, Darrun Hilliard, DeAndre Liggins, Lou Williams, Kyle Wiltjer) plus a future first round pick in exchange for Chris Paul, and yet they may not have gotten their former franchise player’s worth. Paul, on the other hand, seems to have started a second career as a Rocket Power Dancer, so who knows?
On Chris Paul & why his weird, wild Rockets debut – ‘cheerleader’ role & all – showed why he wanted to be in Houston https://t.co/QRb16U7fAT
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) October 18, 2017
According to power forward Blake Griffin, whom the Clippers resigned to a five-year, $173 million contract on July 19th, “We have a lot of guys who can contribute and put up big numbers and play key roles in winning games. It’s not like two or three guys you have to key in on. We have a lot. We have so many unique talents, it’s tough to game-plan [against us].” The Clips have won their last nine October games, and have defeated the Lakers in 14 of their last 15 meetings. The Clippers are, additionally, 6-1-1 ATS in their last eight games playing on three or more days rest, 2-5 ATS in their last seven on Thursday, and and 2-5 against the sports betting spread in their last seven overall.
‘Bad’ means ‘Good,’ right?
The Lakers are, according to Forbes, “still a really bad team.” They are, on the other hand, a better team than they were last season, which is good. To paraphrase Ashley James “Ash” Williams, good, bad, they’re the guys with the Ball – who will likely be paired against Beverly, who in turn is a great defender but might not be a 100%, if he plays. Lonzo is not, all things considered, going to immediately turn the Lakers into contenders, but neither did Kobe in his rookie year. What he can do is help them pick up where they left off last season, Ball can. The Lakers went 5-1 SU and ATS in their last six games of the regular season, including 4-4 SU and ATS in their last four home games. Speaking of which, the sports betting total went under in the Lakers’ five last games of the 2016-17 season, as it has in 10 of the last 11 encounters between the two LA teams. The Lakers allowed 111.5 points per game last season but made a couple of additions on defense such as veteran center Andrew Bogut and guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Unfortunately, Bogut can’t ply his defensive trade from the sidelines, which is where he spends most of his time.