The Los Angeles Lakers play host to the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 at the Crypto.com Arena on Friday night.
The Golden State Warriors will be aiming to level up the series at 3-3 after blowing past the Lakers in a 121-106 home win in Game 5 on Wednesday. Stephen Curry led the team with 27 points and eight assists on 12 of 24 shooting, Andrew Wiggins added 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Draymond Green tallied 20 points with 10 rebounds and four assists. As a team, the Warriors shot 51 percent from the field and 13 of 35 from the 3-point line as they jumped all over the Lakers from the start and poured in 70 points in the first half to take an 11-point lead into halftime, before they finished with a flurry in the fourth quarter to pull away and stave off elimination. Klay Thompson had a quiet game of just 10 points while Jordan Poole scored 11 points off the bench.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers will be disappointed with their lack of effort on Wednesday as they came out with a lack of urgency and got burned by the more desperate team. LeBron James led the team with 25 points, nine rebounds and three assists, Anthony Davis added 23 points with nine rebounds and three assists while D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves scored 15 points apiece. As a team, the Lakers shot 48 percent from the field and 10 of 27 from the 3-point line but this loss was more about their lack of effort on the defensive end as they were always fighting an uphill battle after allowing 70 points in the first half.
Looking at the betting trends, the Warriors are 17-38-1 ATS in their last 56 road games and 0-4 ATS in their last four games following a win of more than 10 points. The Lakers are 5-0 ATS in their last five home games, 5-0 ATS in their last five games following a loss and 7-2 ATS in their last nine Conference Semifinals games.
Head to head, the under is 4-0 in the last four meetings in Los Angeles, the Warriors are 0-5 ATS in the last five meetings in Los Angeles and the Warriors are 2-6 ATS in the last eight meetings overall.
The Warriors are sweating on the availability of Andrew Wiggins who is questionable for this one, while the Lakers will be relieved to have Anthony Davis available after he was listed as questionable yesterday. The Warriors were able to stave off elimination on Wednesday thanks to big games from Curry and Wiggins, but they’re going to need Thompson to step up on the road, especially with Poole being almost a non-factor in this series. The Lakers’ success in this series has been dependent on their defense and I think they can seal the deal if they stop the Warriors from getting off to a quick start. You can make an argument for either side, but I think the Lakers take control early and outlast the Warriors in a close game to move onto the Conference Finals.
