Lakers vs Clippers Prediction 2/20/26 NBA Picks Today

The Los Angeles Clippers travel to the Crypto.com Arena to do battle with the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. Here’s a Lakers vs Clippers Prediction. This article will include a Lakers vs Clippers Pick.

The Los Angeles Clippers have been in pretty good form as they’ve won four of their last five games overall and they will be eager to stay hot after outlasting the Nuggets in a 115-112 home win last night. Bennedict Mathurin led the team in scoring with 38 points on 12 of 22 shooting off the bench, Kawhi Leonard added 23 points while Derrick Jones Jr chipped in with 22 points on seven of 15 shooting. As a team, the Clippers shot 47 percent from the field and eight of 33 from the 3-point line as they struggled to match the Nuggets early on and scored just 20 points in the second quarter to fall behind, but they flipped the script in the second half where they exploded for 70 points to escape with the narrow win thanks to a clutch free throws from Mathurin and Jones Jr in the final minute of the game.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers have been in pretty good shape lately as they’ve won nine of their last 14 games overall and they will be eager to keep it going after blowing past the severely depleted Mavericks in a 124-104 home win last Thursday. LeBron James led the team with a triple-double of 28 points with 10 rebounds and 12 assists, Rui Hachimura added 21 points on nine of 13 shooting while Austin Reaves chipped in with 18 points and six assists off the bench. As a team, the Lakers shot a healthy 56 percent from the field and 10 of 31 from the 3-point line as they set the tone with 36 points in the first quarter to jump out in front early, but they couldn’t get any separation from the pesky Mavericks until the third quarter where they outscored the Mavericks by 32-19 to start to pull away.

The Clippers are still missing Bradley Beal and Darius Garland, while the Lakers expect to have a full roster for this contest. The Clippers would’ve taken plenty of confidence from last night’s thrilling win over the Nuggets, but now they have to take on their rivals on their second game of a back-to-back set. The Lakers come into this contest with plenty of momentum themselves, and they should be well rested as they haven’t played since the All-Star break, so I’m not surprised to see them as moderate home favorites in this spot. It’s tempting to take the Clippers, who have beaten the Timberwolves, Rockets and the Nuggets in their last four games, but this just seems like a good scheduling spot for the Lakers in this meeting.