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Edgar Chaput
Los Angeles Clippers vs. Los Angeles Lakers Prediction, NBA Odds
The Los Angeles Clippers are spending the weekend at their former home, which they used to share with the Los Angeles Lakers. The city rivals butted heads on Friday, with the Lakers earning a 106-102 victory. Incidentally, it was Luka Doncic’s birthday and the Slovenian celebrated by netting 31 points.
Our NBA odds see this game as a close one. The Clippers are slight -2.5 favourites.
Clippers vs. Lakers NBA Betting Odds
Sunday is already the fourth clash between the Clippers and Lakers this season. What’s more, their season series began after New Year’s, so these clubs have seen each other’s mugs often during the past two-plus months. As it stands, the Lakers hold a 2-1 edge. The purple and gold also took three of four from the Clippers last season.
It’s tricky to assess the 2024-25 Clippers squad. Are they performing as expected? Are they worse? Could they be possibly better? Probably not the latter. Given that Kawhi Leonard has missed so much time and that they lost Paul George last offseason, one supposes that being 32-27 straight-up and in sixth place in the Western Conference makes sense. Funnily enough, they sport a nearly identical ATS tally at 31-27-1. As for injuries, Norman Powell (knee) and Derrick Jones Jr. (groin) are listed as out.
Conversely, this season is operating far beyond what most envisioned for the Lakers. If they keep pushing forward, they might earn the second seed when the playoffs start. Time will tell how much the Doncic trade pays off, but so far things are looking good, and the 26-year-old seems to have his swagger back. That said, the reason why they’re underdogs for this contest is due to the injury list: Doncic (calf), Austin Reaves (calf), and LeBron James (foot) are all day-to-day.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers put up a good fight on Friday, but it wasn’t enough in a 106-102 defeat. Once again, the “bigger brother” got the better of the “little brother.”
Looking at the stats lines in the major statistical categories, it’s remarkable how similar each club’s numbers were. Field goal percentages were exactly 44.8 per cent for both, rebounding was 44-39 in favour of the Clippers, and free throws were 71.4 per cent for the Clippers and 77.3 for the Lakers. Even those free throw numbers resulted from of the Clippers getting to the line one time fewer (21 to 22) and missing one more shot (15-for 21 to 17-for-22).
If anything, the turnovers sunk the Clippers. As a club, they committed 25 and James Harden had six to himself. He attempted some late game dribbling heroics, which proved disastrous, allowing the Lakers to get some easy transition buckets.
Harden finished with 18 points. Ivica Zubac had a team-high 27 and Leonard finished with 21.
Los Angeles Lakers
Once Doncic arrived in L.A., there were two early marquee games for him to rekindle the magic he had in Dallas and ingratiate himself to the Lakers fan base. The first was versus the Mavericks, which saw him earn a triple-double. The second was on his birthday with an opportunity to pour misery on the Clippers.
And so it went. Doncic had a game-high 31 points, although he took a lot of shots to get there. He was also a bit sloppy with the ball, losing it six times. However, along with James’ 28 points and 12 rebounds, it was just enough firepower to outlast their cross-town rivals. As a matter of fact, Doncic and James look to be jelling rather well with their playmaking abilities.
With those two being so dominant, the flip side is that other players don’t tally as much, as evidenced by the fact that no one else hit double-digits in points.
LAC
LAL