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A busy NBA Monday Night will end with the LA Lakers hosting the Golden State Warriors, and the Lakers will feel they have a unique opportunity to get one over a shorthanded Warriors side.
The Lakers (10-17, 6-7 home) had a few good moments this season, including in the recent 4 game road trip in the East, when they defeated Charlotte and Detroit before losing to New York and Cleveland. They also had some solid wins against good teams at home, where they played decent basketball. Nevertheless, the team has been mostly poor this season, as expected, with their young talent not being quite ready yet to compete at the highest level – and, to be honest, not being quite as good as advertised.
The Warriors (23-6, 13-3 away) are riding an 8 game winning streak and did very well to win the last 4 games without their leader Steph Curry. The feat was even more impressive considering that Draymond Green also sat out in three of those games. However, the Warriors benefited from an extremely easy schedule since Curry went out. Tonight they will miss Curry and Green again, but also other players.
Bet on Lakers vs. Warriors and claim your 100% (100 Eur) freebet at Ohmbet now!Team news: While the LA Lakers are at full strength, the Warriors have serious injury problems ahead of this game. Curry, Green, Pachulia and Livingston will all miss out, while Young is questionable, but expected to play.
This will be a very tricky game for Golden State without 4 key players. They will have to field a third string point guard, and will mostly be a two man team with Durant and Thompson being the only two regular starters who will play.
While Thompson and especially Durant played very well in the last 4 games without Steph (and 3 of them without Green), the absence of Livingston in particular will have an amplified effect, weakening the rotations even more – as he was taking over the PG duties from Steph.
The Lakers will smell blood here and even if they are one of the NBA’s poor teams, they do bring energy into every home game. At Staples they got wins over playoff teams like Washington, Detroit, Denver or Memphis (when Memphis was healthy), and also took a healthy Warriors team into overtime a few weeks ago.
The Warriors can`t possibly be their vintage selves here without Steph Curry and three other key pieces. They did win their last four games without Steph, but not in very convincing fashion (2-0-2 ATS), and the level of opposition was poor. The Lakers aren`t exactly difficult opposition themselves, but they are at home, and now Golden State is even more shorthanded without Livingston.
The Lakers also have a weird way of playing close games at home against Golden State even when the Warriors are at full strength. They won 2 of the last 4 games against the Warriors at Staples, and were close to making it 3 out of 4 a few weeks ago when they lost by four points in overtime.
I expect Golden State to struggle and the Lakers should at least cover the point spread, but I wouldn`t be surprised if they pull off a win. The Warriors tonight will basically be Durant, Thompson and to a lesser extent Iguodala along with a bunch of random players, so they can`t possibly be at their best – especially with one of the missing guys being Steph Curry.
My tip is the Lakers to cover the 6 point (asian) handicap. Odds on this bet are dropping. Prediction: LA Lakers – Golden State Warriors 110 – 108.
Pick: Lakers +6
Odds: 1.99 @ 1xBet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 7.92
Event date: 19 December
