Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Preview
Where: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City
When: Sunday, October 30, 2016, 7:00 PM ET
Line: Los Angeles Lakers (+7.5) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (-7.5); total: 214.0 – view all NBA lines
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Betting on the Los Angeles Lakers (+7.5)
The Los Angeles Lakers were sent crashing back to earth on Friday as they suffered a 96-89 loss to the Utah Jazz. The Lakers simply had no answer for George Hill who scored 23 points in his home debut for the Jazz. With the defeat, the Lakers have now lost their last three road games against the Jazz.
The Lakers will look to get their season back on track when they face the red-hot Thunder tonight. For the Lakers to pick up their first road win of the season this evening, they will need to get much-improved performances from their young stars. Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram combined for just 9-of-32 shooting in the loss to the Jazz. That’s quite a disappointment considering they combined for 72 points on 28-of-45 shooting in their season-debut against the Rockets.
With super rookie Brandon Ingram ruled out for Saturday’s clash with a knee injury, the onus is on Clarkson to carry the scoring cudgels for the Lakers. He scored just four points on 2-of-9 shooting against Utah after finishing with 25 in the win against Houston. Clarkson averaged 13.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in four meetings with the Thunder last season.
The Lakers are 1-8 ATS in their last 9 road games. They are pegged at +20,000 to win the NBA Championship this season.
Betting on the Oklahoma City Thunder (-7.5)
Kevin Durant who? The Oklahoma City Thunder preserved their unbeaten record with a thrilling 113-110 overtime victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night. Leading the way for the Thunder in this come-from-behind win was Russell Westbrook who collected his 38th career triple double with 51 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. He is the first player since the great Kareem Abdul Jabbar in the 1974-75 season to have a triple double with at least 50 points.
Key to the Thunder’s hot start this campaign has been their phenomenal offense. Oklahoma City is averaging 108.0 points per game this season, 12th in the NBA. Providing the impetus for the OKC offense this campaign is the highly-motivated Westbrook. He’s averaging 41.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 12.5 assists through his first two games. Westbrook’s offensive brilliance was in full display Friday against Phoenix wherein he scored 39 of his 51 points in the second half and overtime to power the Thunder comeback.
Westbrook and the rest of the Thunder will look to replicate that performance when they take on the Lakers later tonight. Oklahoma City will fancy its chances of doing just that as it has fared extremely well against Los Angeles at home of late. The Thunder have won each of their last 11 games against the Lakers at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Oklahama City has covered the spread in nine of those 11 outings. The Thunder took the four meetings last season by an average of 27.8 points.
For the Thunder to extend that dominance tonight, they will need to improve on their outside shooting. They have shot just 11-of-43 from beyond the arc through the first two games. Westbrook, in particular, shot horribly from the three-point area against Phoenix, going just 2-0f-10 from that distance.
The Thunder are 0-5 ATS in their last five games overall. They are pegged at +3,300 to win the NBA Championship this season.
Writer’s Prediction
The Thunder (-7.5) stretch their unbeaten run to three games with a resounding 105-89 win.
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