While their previous opponents play each other in the highlight game of the evening, the Toronto Raptors and the Los Angeles Lakers will square off at Staples with few eyes watching, in what might turn out to be a very important game for both sides going forward.
Toronto Raptors at Los Angeles Lakers
Spread: Toronto -6.5 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: o/u 228 points (-110)
The Raptors fail in the clutch again
If there wasn’t much to take from the loss in San Antonio, there’s even less when the Toronto Raptors held the champion team of Warriors only to falter in the clutch and lose another close game. The Raptors have done it like so many times before. With the game on the line, the always turn to isolation plays for Lowry or DeRozan, clunk a difficult shot (or have it blocked like on Wednesday), and lose the game. It’s not even frustrating anymore, it’s the way it is.
To be fair, the Raptors were never supposed to win in San Antonio or Oakland. Not without Valanciunas sitting out and coach Casey scrambling for solutions. He opted to start Pascal Siakam for his athleticism against the Warriors, a move that certainly paid off. Siakam scored 20 points, patiently waiting for the shots as the defense focused on the usual shot makers. Backup center, Jacob Poeltl, played the best game of his career. He scored 12 points, mostly on the self-fought second-chance points, after grabbing incredible 11 offensive rebounds (14 total). However, their support could only drive the Raptors this far, as Miles, Lowry and Ibaka couldn’t hit from outside – those three combined to shot 4-of-22 from the three-point territory, and Delon Wright missed additional 4. One simply cannot win against the Warriors without hitting threes. Sometimes, even that won’t help you enough.
The good news is that the Raptors won’t have to visit San Antonio nor Golden State until June or later, so they can now focus on the game they ought to win, like their next game in Los Angeles. They still get to play games in Portland, Denver, and Utah on this trip, but all of the venues are difficult places to win at, so Raptors should play with a sense of urgency against the Lakers if they want to avoid going 0-6 before they return home. Valanciunas is doubtful to play in the game, but he isn’t all that important as the Lakers frontcourt plays outside.
Place: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Date/Time: Friday, October 27th, 2017. 10:30 PM ET
TV Coverage: SPECSN/SPECD
The Lakers steal one from the Wizards, win in overtime
Lonzo Ball is helping the Lakers, on and off the court. It seems that not only his game impact the Lakers results, but also the fact that he draws so much attention that the rest of the team can play more freely and don’t worry about the result. Of course, the Lakers of the past didn’t worry about any game outcome, but this is a different group, one that can make the best of the situation. This is exactly what won their last game for the purple-and-gold.
The Wizards haven’t played their best game, and the Lakers had very little to do with it. It was simply one of those bad night for their opponents. But they got frustrated by it, as they hoped to put the Lakers and their prized rookie in a position where they would shut their mouths. The Lakers seized the opportunity, made a late run and earn more bragging rights. But for those of you who didn’t watch the game, the Lakers played rather poorly, much like their opposition. Ball has struggled with his shot, and that’s going to be like that on most nights. He did manage to contribute in other ways, rebounding, assisting and playing solid on-ball defense. Instead of him leading the way offensively, it was the duo of starting forwards for the Lakers. Brandon Ingram had a 19-10 double-double, and Larry Nance almost matched him with 18-10. Their backup, Kuzma, scored 15. Julius Randle, a guy the Lakers believe would start at PF at this point, added 11 and 9 in 19 minutes off the bench. The youngs are growing by the day, and the exciting times are coming.
This is the first game of a back-to-back set that concludes on Saturday in Salt Lake City, but don’t look for the Lakers to preserve strength. They have enough depth to give it all in for their own fans and try to move above the .500 for the first time this season.
Toronto Raptors at Los Angeles Lakers Game Trends & Prediction
Four games in, the Raptors have cashed in 3 times. They were right there in San Antonio as well, but the spread was tiny and would allow them to lose and cover. With two tiny consecutive unders, they broke even on the total points market, playing 2-2 against the over/under.
The Lakers were underdogs in all four games this season, and they’ve covered only in the wins. It’s quite normal for such a young team, who gets excited with an opportunity and gets down when things go awry. They’ve also split the O/U record, as the game vs. Washington failed to reach anywhere near the 228.5 closing total points line, despite the overtime.
A unique ranking system – AdmiRank helps you understand how good NBA teams are on a scale to 100. At this point, the Raptors are an Eastern team with the second-highest rating in the conference. Of course, others might have failed to live up to expectations, but doesn’t take away from the fact that they don’t take nights off. The Lakers are also in a slight uptrend, but the difference between two is obvious on a first glance.
After four games played, two of which the Lakers won (by 2 vs. Suns and in OT, but still), it’s obvious that these Lakers are better than the Lakers of 2016/17. The previous edition was bad though, so there’s still plenty of work that needs to be done before we can count on the Lakers playing well consistently. The Raptors are there already. Two consecutive losses aside, this is a good team, much better than their hosts. It’s a motivated team as well.
The bookmakers are favoring the Raptors, which comes to no surprise. The spread is set at 6.5 points and the totals are expected at 226 points. This gives us plenty of space to work with the home bet. The fair number should be closer to +5, so I’m hoping that the young Lakers get it going. I’m also going double with betting the under 228 points. Even without Valanciunas, the Raptors still play good defense, and the Lakers can find a way to keep the opposition from scoring with their length.
My Pick: Los Angeles Lakers +6.5 (-110)
Total: under 228 points (-110)
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