The Los Angeles Lakers could potentially fall to .500 as they head on the road to take the Portland Trail Blazers. The Lakers will be without star veteran forward, LeBron James, who is going to miss at least a week due to injury.
How will this affect the NBA odds for this matchup? Let’s find out!
Saturday, November 6, 2021 – 10:30 PM EDT at Moda Center
The Lakers ended up losing to an extremely mad Oklahoma City Thunder team on Thursday, 107-104, without LeBron James. Content has been easy for sports media with the Lakers struggling this season. Los Angeles is not getting to the line at a high rate and has been turning the ball over 15.7 percent of the time.
While the Lakers are taking quality shots with a 53.8 percent effective field goal percentage, they’re only scoring 107.6 points per 100 possessions. On the other hand, Portland’s defense is below average and in the bottom 10 of the league right now. The Blazers are allowing 111.2 points per 100 possessions and a 56 percent effective field goal percentage which is 27th in the league.
Portland is still very solid on the defensive glass and limits free throws, which is one of the reasons why they’re also near .500 on the season. The Lakers have had to rely on Anthony Davis, who is averaging 25.4 points per game with 11.9 rebounds per game in 35.9 minutes.
Russell Westbrook has been a bit of a disappointment so far this year with just 20.2 points and 8.4 rebounds along with 8.1 assists. He used to average triple-doubles. But all in all, he was a winner. This year, that just hasn’t been the case.
However, the same can be said about Portland’s guards. Damian Lillard is third on the Blazers in points per game with 17.8 points per game in 34.4 minutes per game. For Lillard, that’s awful and he’s struggling to find consistency offensively to start the year. Still, the offense for Portland is scoring 112.5 points per 100 possessions with a 54.5 percent effective field goal percentage.
Despite Lillard struggling, the Blazers are still doing fine offensively. They don’t get to the line as much as they’d like but against the Lakers, there’s a good chance Portland gets a higher amount of offensive boards and second chances.
Portland also does well protecting the basketball and turning the ball over just 13.8 percent. The Lakers are forcing plenty of turnovers on the defensive end, but if Portland can keep the turnovers down and take quality shots, they’ll be able to stick around in this game.
Both of these teams are bottom 10 in the league when it comes to defensive effective field goal percentage. Quality shots will be taken from both sides in this game. Because on the other hand, both the Lakers and Blazers are top 10 in effective field goal percentage. If Portland can keep the turnovers low, they’ll have more potential to score points.
Meanwhile, Portland is terrific on the defensive glass, but if the Lakers take quality shots, there will be less chance for the Blazers to earn defensive rebounds in the first place. Therefore, I’ll ride the over for my NBA pick knowing both of these teams are producing offense at high levels in different areas where the other team struggles.
NBA Pick: Over 218.5 (-110) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.