The Los Angeles Lakers are 0-2 to start the season and they’ll continue to search for their first win this season as they go up against fellow Tinseltown franchise, Los Angeles Clippers, who are coming off a close win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Find out more about this game below. You can also read our preview of tonight’s Spurs vs. Suns here.
[sc:NBAArticles ]Los Angeles Clippers vs. Los Angeles Lakers Betting Preview
Where: STAPLES Center, Los Angeles
When: Friday, October 31, 10:00PM ET
Line: Los Angeles Clippers vs. Los Angeles Lakers – view all NBA lines
Betting on the Los Angeles Clippers
[sc:NBA240banner ]Steve Ballmer secured win no. 1 as the Clippers new owner after his team eked out a 93-90 win Wednesday over the Kevin Durant-less Oklahoma City Thunder, who also had to contend with the early exit of Russell Westbrook due to a hand injury.
Chris Paul made the most of Westbrook’s absence and dominated Thunder backup guard Sebastian Telfair, scoring 22 points to go along with seven dimes. Paul has a ton of options on offense, with the tag team of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan inside and space-stretching wingmen in J.J. Redick and Matt Barnes.
Redick, however, shot just 1-for-7 from the three-point area and 1-for-10 overall from the field against the Thunder. Still, one ugly shooting night won’t force Doc Rivers from taking away Redick’s green light, especially against the Lakers’ bad perimeter defense that has allowed the Rockets and Suns to unload a combined 61 three-point attempts, knocking down 28 of them.
As for Barnes (1-for-3 3PT, 7 points), his outside shooting will just be an accessory against the Lakers. His main task would be to shadow Bryant. Bryant has been aggressive driving to the basket over the Lakers’ last two games, leading the team with 18 drives and making 15 points of those. With Jordan’s rim protection, though, Kobe likely won’t have that much success even if he gets by Barnes.
Griffin and Jordan, meanwhile, should have a decisive advantage over the Lakers’ big men. Griffin scored 10 points inside the paint and 23 overall against Oklahoma City, while Jordan had eight points and 10 boards.
The Clippers are 7-1 ATS in their last eight games against the Lakers.
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Betting on the Los Angeles Lakers
The only other thing purpler than the Lakers’ jerseys are their bruised egos after the team suffered two successive crushing setbacks to open their season. The first was a 108-90 loss to the Houston Rockets Tuesday followed by a 119-99 beating at the hands of the Phoenix Suns Wednesday.
Kobe Bryant, as expected, was the Lakers brightest player over those two losses. The one-time MVP scored 19 against Houston and dropped 31 versus Phoenix. Bryant will remain as the Lakers’ focal point on offense on any given night, but the team isn’t going anywhere against the Clippers without ample support from his teammates. Other than Bryant, no other Lakers starter scored in double figures against Phoenix. Ed Davis and Wayne Ellington provided 17 points off the bench, most of those, however, came in the fourth period when the game was practically out of LA’s reach.
Carlos Boozer, Jordan Hill, and the rest of the Lakers’ frontline will find it difficult to carve out space inside against defenders like DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, so it’s important for players like Bryant, Wesley Johnson, and Jeremy Lin to get their outside shots to fall to stretch the Clippers’ D. The Lakers are 7-for-23 from the three-point area in two games thus far this season.
The Lakers are 2-8 ATS in their last 10 road games.
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