Never in the recent years was so unclear which Los Angeles team will capture the notion of owning their city. The Clippers and the Lakers square off at the Staples Center on Thursday night for some bragging rights. The national TV cameras will be present to witness first ever NBA game of Lonzo Ball, a new star in the City of Angels.
Clippers at Lakers
Spread: LA Clippers -5 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: over 218 (-110)
Clippers eager to prove they can succeed without Paul
Few teams had endured so much change over the summer as the Clippers. Six seasons of being good, but not great added up to a growing disappointment for the fans and some of the players, and the Clippers will now have to see if that period was actually the highlight of their decade, or if they can transition to a new era with as much success.
Three starters and the sixth man left the city of LA. Chris Paul, J.J. Redick, and Jamal Crawford had played crucial roles during their tenure with the Clips, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute filled in nicely as a defensive wing the last couple of seasons. Griffin opted to sign a new contract with the organization and not flee the ship, while the remaining member of the Lob City, center DeAndre Jordan, almost left a few seasons back for Dallas. Such movements usually lead to a rebuilding time, but the Clippers franchise has suffered enough losing seasons – it’s hard to blame them that they refused to quit. The additions they’ve managed to lure in have significantly reshaped their look, but allow them to at least stay in the mix for the lower playoff seed. Well, that’s the theory. The Clippers have so many new faces that it will surely need time to figure out how to utilize all players’ strengths.
New starting backcourt will feature Patrick Beverley, Austin Rivers, and Danilo Gallinari, while Louis Williams and Milos Teodosic hope to provide some kick with the second unit. The Clippers managed to add some depth to their roster, so it’s up to coach Doc Rivers to figure how much can he utilize his reserves. Good thing is that they come into the season healed. There were some minor bumps and bruises during the preseason, but the only player in danger of missing the LA derby is deep rotation guard Thornwell.
Place: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Date/Time: Thursday, October 19th, 2017. 10:30 PM ET
TV Coverage: TNT
With all eyes on Ball, the Lakers featured in the headlines again
Los Angeles has rarely had two good teams, and the more gloried and storied franchise has been playing in the shades for years, suffering from poor management and terrible on-court displays. The reward for all that losing comes in consecutive high picks in the draft, and now the Lakers finally feel that they’ve gathered enough talent to get back into relevancy. For this to be more than just a regular October hope, and more of an expectation, Lakers fans can thank months of campaigning for home-grown Lonzo Ball to play for the Lakers. Other teams felt that it’s better to play safe and let them be, so the purple and gold got their man and the leader for the next era.
New management did their best to surround the ultra-talented Ball with a better cast than they had before, even if it cost them one of their high picks in recent years. They were right to understand that Russell became expendable and paired him with Mozgov’s anchoring contract for Brook Lopez, who will serve as the starting center this season. If he opts to sign elsewhere as a free agent, the Lakers have protected the position with Zubac and Bogut, which is more than most of the teams can show at center. Nance, Randle and preseason phenom Kuzma will compete for minutes at the PF, with coaches hoping that somebody improves to claim the starter’s position over time. Ingram, Deng and Corey Brewer gives excellent depth at the wing. The backcourt is not as deep. Ball, signee Caldwell-Pope, and Clarkson will be forced to carry most of the load, but it’s still a good outlook for the Lakers. The best they had in years.
Minor injuries won’t stop most of the players to dress for the opening game. Only Caldwell-Pope will miss this and the next game due to suspension. The Lakers need game minutes together after some players missed time in the preseason.
Los Angeles Clippers at Los Angeles Lakers Game Trends & Prediction
The Los Angeles Clippers provided profit for those betting on overs, collecting 44 overs in the regular season 2016/17. The books did a good job on spread betting – the LA Clippers managed just 40-41-1, so it’s only the house that cashed in.
It’s quite rare for a known bad team to underachieve, but the Lakers somehow managed to lose money for their backers last season, going 37-43-2 overall. With newly found media attention, it’s highly likely that they’ll quickly recapture their public team image of the past. They were an over team as well, collecting the same number of overs (44) as the Clips, mostly due to the first part of the season.
This year, I decided to go even more transparent about my bets and will show you the real-time ranking for all the teams showcased here at you favorite betting place, through a unique ranking system – AdmiRank. This system helps you understand how good NBA teams are on a scale to 100. The Clippers open up this season below what was their ranking last year, and Lakers hit a recent history high, but it’s still the Clippers who hold the edge.
The Clippers won and covered three of the four times last season, and that loss was the only time Lakers had a W in the last ten meetings. Even without a true intra-city rivalry, be sure that someone will tell this to the Lakers players, to hype them up for this game. This is not necessarily a good thing for young players, already excited to start a new (or first) NBA season, but it’s a welcoming sight for Lakers fans who got sick of the lackluster approach of the past squads.
Without Paul and with new additions to both sides, it’s likely that this game will be played at a high tempo. This usually translates to a high number of points. The problem is, the books know it as well, and have come out with a line of 218. It’s unlikely that the early punters will jump on the under, so don’t expect this to change much. This gives us no space to work on the over bet, as much as we like it. Instead, take the Lakers. The difference between the two sides isn’t that high as before, and with the nominal home team pumped up to win, it’s going to be a close game. Take the underdog to cover in this one.
My Pick: LA Lakers +5 (-110)
Total: no bet on the totals here
