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NBA – November 2nd

Arch rivals that share the Staples Center will meet in NBA betting action on Friday night, as the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clip Joint has a real chance to get things going this year, and it has come out of the blocks in good shape. Though Chauncey Billups still isn’t ready to come back to the team, it is already clear through just one game, that this squad is better than it was a campaign ago. Jamal Crawford is going to come off of the bench and provide an instantaneous spark to the team, and Lamar Odom is going to be the big man on the boards that he has been over the course of his career, though the latter will probably only be involved in 20 minutes per game or so. The Clippers crushed the Memphis Grizzlies 101-92, and that was without really getting much out of Blake Griffin (11 points, 7 boards) or DeAndre Jordan (12 points, 7 boards, and 9 turnovers). Chris Paul also only scored 12 points. This might be the scariest team in the NBA when it gets Billups back, as he really could make the difference and make this team a contender.

Meanwhile, the other boys from Tinseltown aren’t in nearly as good of shape. The Lakers are 0-2, and they are sliding quickly. Thus far this year, it is the defense that has really faltered, something that you never figured to see happen for a club that is defense-oriented and has arguably the best defensive player in the league in Dwight Howard on the team now that it didn’t have before. Of course, someone is going to have to step up and do some scoring aside from Kobe Bryant, D12 and Pau Gasol. Sure, these three are combining to average 61.5 points per game over the course of the first three games of the year, but no one else is averaging even seven points per game. Steve Nash has been a huge disappointment, as he just isn’t handling the ball as much as we would have figured. As a result, in his 25+ minutes per game, Nash is averaging 4.5 points and 4.0 assists per game, and that’s not nearly what the Lakers figured they were getting when they signed the future Hall of Fame point guard.

Prediction:

The argument could be made that the Clippers are the better of these two teams, and it is almost certainly going to show when push comes to shove in the end. Go with the “visitors” in this one, as the Lakers will drop to 0-3 on the season. Clippers 105 – Lakers 100