Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Prediction, Preview, and Odds

Wednesday’s games have been excluded from the analysis, and the 10-8 Los Angeles Lakers visited the hapless Detroit Pistons, looking to bounce back from an embarrassing loss at the Philadelphia 76ers. Last Monday, the Lakers were trounced by the Sixers 138-94, playing as 5.5-point road underdogs. 

Purple-and-Gold surrendered a whopping 40 fourth-quarter points to the 76ers while scoring just 14 in return. The Lakers forced just seven turnovers on the night and went 7-for-28 from beyond the 3-point line. LeBron James led the Lakers with 18 points and five assists, and Anthony Davis posted a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds. 

“What needs to change in order for that to not happen again? A lot,” James said

The Lakers have dropped two of their last three contests. They are 25th in the NBA in offensive efficiency (110.6 points per 100 possessions) and tenth in defensive efficiency (112.4). The Lakers rank 28th in the league in 3-point rate (34.3) while making just 33.8 percent of their triples (also 28th). 

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Michael Briggs, 28-19, $746The Oklahoma City Thunder (11-6; 12-4-1 ATS) have lost two games in a row. After putting an end to their six-game winning streak with a 127-123 home loss to the 76ers, the Thunder suffered a 106-103 defeat at the Minnesota Timberwolves this past Tuesday. 

OKC blew a nine-point third-quarter lead in Minneapolis. The Thunder forced the T-Wolves into 20 turnovers while posting a 22/10 assist-to-turnover ratio, but OKC shot just 41.1% from the field (11-for-30 from deep) and was outrebounded 51-36 on the night. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 32 points on Minnesota, while Chet Holmgren had 16 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. 

“Teams are going to throw different things at you when things are working. To their credit, they went zone,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said after his team went 6-for-26 from the field in the third quarter.

Gilgeous-Alexander is having a wonderful season, tallying 30.5 points, 6.1 assists, and 6.0 rebounds per game. The Thunder are scoring 118.2 points per 100 possessions (7th in the NBA) on 56.6 effective field goal percentage (3rd). They are seventh in the league in defensive efficiency, too, allowing 110.5 points per 100 possessions. 

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The Thunder will look to pick up the pace against the Lakers. Both teams register just under 100 possessions per 48 minutes, so I’m taking the over on the total. The Lakers will look to exploit OKC’s interior defense if Anthony Davis suits up. He was probable to play Wednesday against Detroit. 

The over is 4-2 in OKC’s last six games overall. The Thunder have scored 123 or more points in five of their previous seven outings at any location, and I don’t think the Lakers will be able to slow them down.