Oklahoma City Thunder (36-36) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (36-37)
March 24, 2023 10:30 pm EDT
The Line: Los Angeles Lakers -5.5; Over/Under: +230.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Lakers collide at the Crypto.com Arena on Friday night.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been in pretty good form lately as they’ve won eight of their last 11 games overall, but they will be hoping to bounce back here after having their two-game win streak halted by the Clippers in a 127-105 road loss last night. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the team with 30 points on 10 of 15 shooting, Josh Giddey added 18 points while Jalen Williams chipped in with 16 points. As a team, the Thunder shot 44 percent from the field and 13 of 39 from the 3-point line as they held the Clippers to just 18 points in the second quarter to erase an early deficit, only to get run off the floor in the second half where the Clippers poured in 73 points.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers have been in decent shape as they’ve won six of their last nine games overall and they will be gunning for a third straight victory after taking down the Suns in a 122-111 win on Wednesday. Anthony Davis led the team with 27 points, nine rebounds and five assists, D’Angelo Russell added 26 points with six assists while Austin Reaves continued his hot form with 25 points and 11 assists. As a team, the Lakers shot 55 percent from the field and eight of 17 from the 3-point line as they rode the hot hand of Reaves early on to take the lead, but they couldn’t put the Suns away until the fourth quarter where they poured in 34 points.
Looking at the betting trends, the Thunder are 47-23-3 ATS in their last 73 road games, 39-19-2 ATS in their last 60 games against a team with a losing record and 5-1 ATS in their last six games overall. The Lakers are 5-2 ATS in their last seven home games, 17-5 ATS in their last 22 games against a team with a losing record and 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games overall.
Head to head, the over is 9-4 in the last 13 meetings overall and the Thunder are 7-1 ATS in the last eight meetings in Los Angeles.
The Thunder are coming into this meeting with plenty of momentum, but they will be playing on zero days rest after getting blown out by the Clippers last night. The Lakers are still missing LeBron James, but they’ve kept their heads above water behind the play of Davis and Reaves and I think that trend continues in this one. This should be a close one and I’m tempted to take the Thunder, but the Lakers have been playing some of their best basketball of the season and I think they can get the job done behind a big game from Davis here.
