Any time the Los Angeles Lakers play a team from the Eastern Conference we can say it’s a possible NBA Finals preview. Guess what, with the Brooklyn Nets paying a visit on Thursday we have a possible Finals preview. However, we could be missing some star power in this matchup. LA’s Anthony Davis is nursing a sore Achilles while Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant sat out a few games with a tight hamstring. The Nets are on the backside of a five-game, nine-day road trip and are still trying to incorporate their big three into the lineup, they just haven’t had them all on the court at the same time that often.
The contest between the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers takes place at 10 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 18, 2021, from Staples Center in Los Angeles and will air live on TNT. BookMaker.eu will have odds for every game on the Thursday NBA schedule.
NBA Opening Lines at BookMaker.eu
Brooklyn Nets (Check Back Later)
Los Angeles Lakers (Check Back Later)
Over/Under (Check Back Later)
Odds Analysis
The Nets will knock out a bunch of road games in a short time. Thursday’s matchup is their fourth game in six nights on the current trip. And while they improved their overall record to 17-12 with wins over Sac and Golden State to open the trip, I don’t think we’ve seen the best of them. Since acquiring James Harden in the middle of January the Nets are 10-6 SU and 7-9 ATS, but we’ve only seen Harden, Durant and Kyrie Irving on the floor at the same time in seven of those games with the Nets 4-3 SU and 3-4 ATS. The Nets will look to improve upon a road record that stands at just 6-7 after their win over the Kings. The Lakers had their seven-game winning streak stopped by the Nuggets on Sunday, 122-105. We saw that coming after the run opened with a 1-point win over Boston and included three overtime triumphs. They continue to win games but the Lakers are a black hole at the betting window going 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games.
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets needed to address the elephant in the room after acquiring Harden. With three alphas and one basketball, how were things going to be divvyed up? It’s helped that the trio has played together in only seven games since the trade, but that’s not what the Nets and Steve Nash want. So prior to their game with Golden State certain roles were defined when Irving told Harden “you’re the point guard.”
All Harden did after that was drop 16 dimes with Irving scoring 23 points and the Nets cruised to their second big win of the season over the Warriors, 134-117. Durant added 20 points and the Nets improved to 4-1 SU and 3-2 ATS in the last five outings with the big three on the floor. They’ve been one of the most efficient offensive teams since acquiring Harden scoring more than 120 points in 14 games with the OVER at 13-3.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers got a double dose of bad news in their game against Denver on Sunday. Not only did the 122-105 loss put an end to their seven-game winning streak, they also saw Davis limp off the floor with an injury that will keep him out of action for likely the rest of the first half. Davis is averaging 22.5 points and a team-best 8.4 rebounds. He’s been injury prone throughout his career playing in more than 70 games just twice, and the Lakers stockpiled talent on the bench just for such a scenario.
You can’t replace what AD means to the club, but you can expect LeBron James to pick up more of the slack. James has played in every game this season and is averaging 25.5 points with 8.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists. The Lakers have options at the position with Kyle Kuzma likely to get a few starts in AD’s absence. He scored 19 points with eight rebounds after taking over for AD in Denver. Kuzma averages 11 points playing slightly less than 25 minutes a game. Markieff Morris and even Montrezl Harrell can fill the void. The Lakers will survive without Davis and they may be better in the long run.
NBA Odds Pick
The Lakers couldn’t overcome the shock of watching AD gingerly make his way to the locker room. “It’s definitely deflating anytime you lose a big player,” James said. And it showed as a close game got away from them. They are used to playing without AD and I don’t anticipate a significant drop in the level of play. Where it will hurt the most is on the defensive end, and that’s not a problem you want against the Nets, who can light it up from anywhere.
NBA Odds Prediction: Nets 121, Lakers 114
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