Nuggets vs. Lakers: NBA odds, Picks and Predictions
Nuggets vs. Lakers Odds
| Nuggets Odds | -1 |
| Lakers Odds | +1 |
| Over/Under | 238 |
| Date | Fri, Dec. 16 |
| Time | 10:00 p.m. |
| TV | ESPN |
The nightcap of ESPN’s NBA double-header on Friday will feature Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets traveling to Hollywood to battle LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Entering play, Denver owns the third-best record in the Western Conference and has won each of their last three contests. Los Angeles is 11-16 and currently sits two games behind the Golden State Warriors for the final play-in spot. Nevertheless, oddsmakers are anticipating a tightly-contested matchup between these two teams, pricing the Nuggets as 1-point road favorites on the spread.
Denver Nuggets
Since November 23rd, Denver is 7-3 overall and has the 6th-best Net Rating of any team in the league. Their recent success has been driven primarily on the offensive end of the floor, where they are averaging 121.7 points per 100 possessions during their recent hot-streak. Head Coach Michael Malone has seen his team do an excellent job moving the basketball and playing as a team of late, which has opened up a number of easy opportunities inside the three-point line – an area of the floor that the Lakers have struggled mightily to defend this year. In their last 10 games, Denver ranks 1st in field goal percentage, 9th in three-point percentage, 14th in free throw attempts per game, and 2nd in assists per game. Expect this group to put together another impressive showing on Friday.
Yet, for as impressive as this group has been offensively in recent weeks, the same cannot be said about their defense. Across the last three weeks, Denver ranks 25th in defensive efficiency and has been particularly poor defending the perimeter, ranking 30th in opponent three-point percentage in that span. Fortunately for this group, they are facing a Los Angeles offense that has attempted the third-fewest shots from beyond-the-arc across the last month.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers have been one of the most streaky teams in the league to begin the new campaign. Following a 2-10 start to the season, they seemingly started to find their groove, winning eight of their subsequent 10 games. However, the brief run of success that helped them get back near the .500 mark was immediately followed by a period in which they won only one of their next five contests. In Los Angeles’ first home game after returning from a long East Coast road trip, they lost in overtime to the Boston Celtics, which was their second overtime loss in a span of five days.
Throwing away the first 12 games from the schedule, the Lakers are 9-6 overall, but their winning efforts have stemmed primarily from being able to outscore their opponent – something that could be difficult to do this evening against a high-powered Nuggets offense. During their last 15 games, Los Angeles ranks only 13th in defensive efficiency.
Nuggets vs. Lakers – Picks & Predictions
Other than Michael Porter Jr., both the Nuggets and Lakers are likely to have all of their best players on the floor this evening, which should result in a more predictable game script than if either team was missing some of their top usage weapons. Denver has been a capable road team this year, with a 9-7 record playing outside of the altitude in the Mile High City. In this matchup, they are well-equipped to take advantage of Los Angeles’ defensive efficiency, in addition to having their own defensive weaknesses mitigated by the fact that the Lakers do not shoot an abundance of shots from beyond the arc. Trust the Nuggets to get the job done in this spot.
PICK: Nuggets ML (-115, MGM)
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