The LA Lakers will be the road team as the face the LA Clippers in an NBA pro basketball game on Friday night. Tip off time from Staples Center in Los Angeles is scheduled for 10:30PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by ESPN.
The NBA odds in the battle of LA has the Clippers favored by -4 points with an over under line of 205 ½ points. When the odds came out a few hours ago the Clips were -4 ½ point favorite with an over under line of 206 points. There has been a ½ point move on the Lakers and under the total.
This is the second meeting of the season between these two clubs. On November 2nd it was the Clippers with the 105-95 road win at the Lakers as a -1 ½ point betting favorite. The total landed over 192 points. Trend: The over is 6-0 in their past six head to head meetings.
The Lakers have won six of their past eight games. They drop a 103-99 home defeat on New Year’s Day to the Philadelphia 76ers as a -9 point betting favorite. The total came in at right at the closing line of 202 points. The Lakers old age hurt them in this game as they had trouble defending the young legs of the 76ers youth in Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner who combined for 48 of the Sixers 103 points. The Lakers allow an offensive inept 76ers team shoot for just under 48% and score 103 points on their defense.
The Clippers are 15-3 on their home court and an angry team with a two game losing streak. Their 17 game win streak was snapped at Denver on New Year’s Day in a 14 point road loss. The next night the Clips are blown out by upstart Golden St 115-96 as a -1 ½ point favorite. Both nights the Clippers shot poorly in their defeat. The Clippers return home where they put up 104 points and game and shoot 49%. Chris Paul and Jamal Crawford will be tough to defend by the Lakers. Paul averages 16 points and dishes out 9 assists per game. No Clipper player averages more than 33 minutes per game. This is possible when you have one of the best benches in the NBA.
