Los Angeles Laker vs Golden State Warriors prediction for Thursday’s NBA playoff clash at The Staples Center in Los Angeles. The Lakers host the Warriors in a one-off match for the NBA play-in tournament to decide the seventh seed in the NBA postseason. Read along for our free prediction and betting tips.
Los Angeles Lakers
After winning the NBA title last season, the Lakers made some changes to their roster and brought in some new players to further strengthen their squad. But injuries to their two key players Anthony Davies and Lebron James have seen the LA outfit deteriorate down the standings and now have to play the Play-in tournament to secure a place in the playoffs.
The winner of this match will secure the seventh seed and face the Phoenix Suns. In their last game of the regular season, the Lakers beat the Pelicans. Lebron James was his team’s best scorer with 25 points. The Lakers won their last five games to finish seventh. They couldn’t overtake Portland Trail Blazers at sixth who has the better H2H record this season.
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors will have to go head-to-head against the Lakers in an attempt to secure a place in the 2020/21 playoffs after they missed out last season. The Warriors played the entire season without Klay Thompson and had to deal with numerous injuries to key players. But the one player who was at his best form was Stephen Curry.
The 33-year old had one of the best seasons of his career and given the incredible performances he had in the second half of the year, Curry will be the man for other teams to stop if they want to beat the Warriors. Curry leads the NBA in scoring with 32 points a game on average. Against the Lakers Curry has been shooting 42.3% from all distances this season.
Key Stats
Los Angeles Lakers vs Golden State Warriors prediction
Lebron James and Stephen Curry have faced four times in the NBA finals before. Curry has the upper hand with three wins. They will face each other again in this postseason one-off play-in match that has different importance. The key for a Lakers win is obviously keeping Curry quiet.
The latest matches of both teams have been very high-scoring. Even though it’s a crucial match but there are many scorers on both sides and we think we will see another game in which the top scorers will find their way to the bucket.
We back over 220.5 points in this match for our primary. For our secondary prediction, we are backing a Lakers win.
Los Angeles Lakers vs Golden State Warriors Betting Tips
Over 219.5 points 1.91 at William Hill
Moneyline Lakers 1.50 at William Hill