NBA: LA Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers Preview, Odds, Prediction

The LA Lakers face the Portland Trail Blazers tonight at Moda Center. Both teams had to play last night, and both lost their respective matches. The Lakers were routed by the champs, the Bucks, while Trail Blazers suffered a loss at home to the Orlando Magic. The team from Portland didn’t have all the players at disposal, due to a trade deal that sent CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans. Some sources are signaling that they might even trade Damian Lillard until the end of the deadline, but those stories are not confirmed.

Preview

LA Lakers (26-29, -240) aren’t in a position they planned to be at this time of the year. Instead of chasing the top spot in the West, the purple and gold aren’t even safe for the playoffs. We’ve said it many times and are going to repeat it again, Russell Westbrook deal didn’t work out as planned, and there you have it, the LAL plays badly.

Last night, LBJ and the boys got another harsh reality check against the Bucks, who defeated them 131-116 at Crypto.com Arena. Everything was solved in the opening period once the guests got away to a 38-24 advantage.

LeBron had 27 points with eight assists and five boards, shooting 11-for-19 from the field. Anthony Davis scored 22 with nine boards and four assists, while Malik Monk continued to play excellent, delivering 20 buckets and five assists. Stanley Johnson had his role off the bench, 16 points and six rebounds.

Portland Trail Blazers (21-34, +190) have six straight losses, eight in the past nine events. The most recent one took place last night at Moda Center, when Orlando went home with a W in its pocket, 113-95. Though, as said, the Trail Blazers didn’t have many players available, some due to injuries and others because of trades.

That took a toll in the final 12 minutes, once the Blazers snapped, losing that period 30-16, and suffering another failure. They’ve allowed the Magic to shoot threes 50%, 19-for-38. Meanwhile, Portland’s overall shooting percentage was 35.2%.

Anfernee Simons scored 19 points had five boards and assists, while Greg Brown III scored 15 off the bench. Jusuf Nurkic had his double-double with 14 buckets and 11 boards, but shooting very bad, 4-for-16. Ben McLemore added 13 and Justise Winslow 12.

Head to Head Games

This is the fourth meeting between these division rivals, with the current score being 2-1 for the LAL. The first game was in Portland, and the hosts won it, 105-90, while the next two took place in LA. The purple and gold won both, 139-106 and 99-94.

Prediction

With the Trail Blazers crippled with Lillard’s absence, and having to adjust to new players, the Lakers have a nice chance to win one contest on the road. Not just that, but also to improve the record, which is mediocre right now. There isn’t too much time for LAL, and they need to react fast, otherwise, missing the playoffs will become a realistic possibility. And that would be a first-class sensation, because this unit not only costs too much, but has several Hall of Famers on its roster.

Pick: Lakers win