The Los Angeles Lakers (16-17) enter a special Christmas Day matchup against the Brooklyn Nets (21-9) trying to put a stop to a four-game losing streak.
Bookmaker BetOnline has the two teams very evenly matched offering odds at -115 for a Lakers win and at -105 for a Nets victory. The over/under is set at 226 points.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 24th, 11:00 A.M. (EST)
The Lakers appeared to have started to turn the corner earlier in the month with a run of six wins in eight games, but Anthony Davis then went down with a knee injury and the team hasn’t been able to cope with his absence.
LeBron James has come up with a few big performances lately scoring 30-plus points in three consecutive games and even Russell Westbrook’s performances have been unusually effective, but the Lakers have been very vulnerable defensively without Davis.
The team has also lost multiple guys to health and safety protocols, which puts them in a tough spot for the matchup against Brooklyn.
The Nets have been short-handed as well because of the coronavirus, but they have received a big boost ahead of the Christmas Day matchup with James Harden clearing the protocols.
The former MVP has taken a backseat to Kevin Durant this season, but Durant is still unavailable because of the protocols and Harden should run the show if he plays and Durant isn’t able to help the team. The Beard has averaged 30.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and eight assists in games without Durant this season.
Harden’s career record against the Lakers is impressive as well. He’s averaged 26.3 points per game in the matchup with five rebounds and 6.7 assists with him scoring more only against seven other teams.
The Lakers have just allowed a mediocre Spurs team to get 138 points against them, so Harden shouldn’t have any trouble picking apart their defense. The Lakers will focus on trying to stop him, but Harden is a very good playmaker who can cause all sorts of trouble with his vision and he’ll be looking to get his teammates involved as much as possible.
The Nets have won three straight road games against the Lakers and their away record this season is outstanding as well at 11-3. It’s a very tough matchup for Frank Vogel’s side and another Lakers loss here would make their crisis feel very real as the team hasn’t dropped five consecutive games since the start of 2019-20.
