Oklahoma City Thunder @ Los Angeles Lakers
Current Records: Oklahoma City 14-4, Los Angeles 11-7
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s road trip will continue as they head out to face the Los Angeles Lakers at 10:00 p.m. ET on Friday at Crypto.com Arena. The Thunder are expected to win (but not by much) so they better bring their A-game into this one.
The Thunder are headed into this one after the oddsmakers set last week’s over/under low at 225.5, but even that wound up being too high. They snuck past the Warriors with a 105-101 victory on Wednesday.
The Thunder’s success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the charge by almost dropping a double-double on 35 points and nine rebounds. Gilgeous-Alexander’s evening made it eight games in a row in which he has scored at least 30 points.
Meanwhile, the Lakers came into Wednesday’s contest having lost three straight, but that streak is now in the rearview. They enjoyed a cozy 119-101 win over the Spurs on Wednesday.
Anthony Davis continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 19 points and 14 rebounds. What’s more, he also racked up seven assists, the most he’s had since back in February.
The Lakers were working as a unit and finished the game with 31 assists. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they’ve now posted at least 25 assists in three consecutive matchups.
Oklahoma City is on a roll lately: they’ve won six of their last eight matches, which somehow still isn’t as good as their 14-4 record this season. As for Los Angeles, their victory bumped their record up to 11-7.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: The Thunder haven’t given up the ball easily this season, having only averaged 11.3 turnovers per game (they’re ranked second in turnovers per game overall). However, it’s not like the Lakers (currently ranked fifth) struggle in that department as they’ve been averaging only 12.3. Given these competing strengths, it’ll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
The Thunder came up short against the Lakers when the teams last played back in March, falling 116-104. Can the Thunder avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We’ll find out soon enough.
Oklahoma City is a slight 1.5-point favorite against Los Angeles, according to the latest NBA odds.
The line on this game has moved a bit since it opened, as it started out with the Lakers as a 1-point favorite.
The over/under is 231.5 points.
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Los Angeles has won 7 out of their last 10 games against Oklahoma City.
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