Thunder vs Lakers Pick – NBA Predictions & Odds 3/1/23

The Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder collide at the Paycom Center on Wednesday night.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been in decent shape as they’ve won four of their last six games overall, but they will be eager to bounce back in this one after getting routed by the Grizzlies in a 121-109 road loss last night. Anthony Davis did his best to carry the team as he scored 28 points with 19 rebounds and five blocks, Lonnie Walker added 21 points off the bench, Austin Reaves scored 17 points with seven assists while Dennis Schroder chipped in with 10 points and 10 assists. As a team, the Lakers shot 44 percent from the field and 13 of 34 from the 3-point line as they kept pace with the Grizzlies in a close contest, until the third quarter where the Grizzlies’ Ja Morant scored 28 points to snatch the game from them in the end.

Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder have been in a rut as they’ve lost five of their last six games overall and they will be hoping to avoid a fifth straight defeat after getting stopped by the Kings in a 123-117 loss last night. Jalen Williams led the team with 27 points and eight assists, Dario Saric added 21 points off the bench while Luguentz Dort chipped in with 11 points. As a team, the Thunder shot 43 percent from the field and 11 of 35 from the 3-point line, but they leaked 44 points in the first quarter and just couldn’t get enough offense from their starters to keep pace with the young Kings. Josh Giddey scored just eight points in just 19 minutes of action in a rough game.

Looking at the betting trends, the Lakers are 4-0 ATS in their last four games playing on zero days rest, 15-5 ATS in their last 20 games against a team with a losing record and 4-1 ATS in their last five games overall. The Thunder are 3-1-1 ATS in their last five games playing on zero days rest, 36-17-2 ATS in their last 55 games against a team with a losing record and 13-6-3 ATS in their last 22 games overall.

Head to head, the over is 4-1 in the last five meetings in Oklahoma City, the Lakers are 2-5 ATS in the last seven meetings overall and the Lakers are 5-12 ATS in the last 17 meetings in Oklahoma City.

The Lakers will again be without LeBron James and they are keeping an eye on D’Angelo Russell who is day to day, while the Thunder are still without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander once again. The Lakers need to get busy in the win column to sneak into the playoff picture, but they’re running out of time and need a win here just to stay in the hunt, while the Thunder have gone cold since losing their leading scorer. The Lakers weren’t able to give Davis enough support last night, but the Lakers are 15-5 ATS in their last 20 games against a team with a losing record and I think they get the much-needed victory here.