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The NBA’s jam packed Thursday before Christmas schedule brings us out west tonight as the Los Angeles Lakers will play host to the San Antonio Spurs. This is notably the final game the Lakers will play at ‘Staples Center’ before the venue officially rebrands as ‘Crypto.com Arena’ for their Christmas Day showdown against the Nets.
Los Angeles (16-16) is trying to end a three-game losing streak and is still trying to navigate through life without Anthony Davis for the foreseeable future. The team was last in action on Tuesday when getting demolished by the Western Conference leading Suns in a 108-90 home loss. They shot just 39.1% from the field and couldn’t keep pace in the second half. LeBron James did the heavy lifting with 34 points and seven rebounds. Russell Westbrook had a double-double of 22 points and 10 boards.
San Antonio (12-18) will try to go two-for-two in the City of Angels this week after demolishing the Clippers for a 116-92 road victory on Monday. The Spurs successfully held their opponents to just 38.6% shooting on the evening and got yet another triple-double performance from Dejounte Murray, who finished with 24 points, 13 assists, and 12 rebounds.
The league is still dealing with the rising number of players entering health and safety protocols due to COVID-19 and that has affected this game as well. The Lakers still have some a handful of players out and that includes Avery Bradley, Kent Bazemore, Malik Monk, and Austin Reaves.
Los Angeles enters as a 1.5-point favorite per DraftKings Sportsbook with the total set at 225.5.
Spurs vs. Lakers, 10:30 p.m. ET
Pick ATS: Spurs +1.5
The Lakers have won both head-to-head matchups with the Spurs this season and both came by four or more points. However, they had 30+ point performances from Anthony Davis in both of those contests so it’ll be a different strategy from them in this one.
L.A. is just 5-10 against the spread as a home favorite this season while San Antonio is 8-4 as a road underdog. With Murray playing like an all-star, ready to take down the Lake Show right before Christmas so take the points with the Spurs.
Over/Under: Under 225.5
The Spurs are one of the more over-friendly teams in the NBA while they Lakers have had a perfect 16-16 split between overs and unders this year. L.A. has not been involved in a single matchup that has crossed the 225.5 threshold in nearly three weeks and without Davis on the floor, that’ll continue this evening.
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