Los Angeles Lakers vs Denver Nuggets betting tips and predictions for Monday’s NBA Playoffs game on ESPN. LeBron James and the Lakers are hoping to avoid the sweep as they take on the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of their Western Conference Finals series. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Los Angeles Lakers
In Game 3 the Lakers suffered the toughest loss of the series so far 119-108. They got solid contributions from Anthony Davis, LeBron James and Austin Reaves, but other than that nobody else really stepped up. As a team they committed 7 more turnovers than Denver and made only 10 threes, ultimately that’s what cost them the game.
No team has ever come back from a 3:0 deficit in the NBA postseason, so this is arguably the biggest challenge of LeBron James’ career so far. In his post-game press conference James said they have to take it game by game now and just focus on the next one. ESPN’s Analytics still favor the Lakers in Game 4 giving them a 53% chance to win, the oddsmakers have them as 3-point favorites as well.
Denver Nuggets
Jamal Murray had one of his best halves as an NBA player in Game 3 scoring 30 points. He cooled off in the 2nd half, but then Nikola Jokic stepped up to put the Lakers away. As a team the Nuggets turned the ball over just 5 times and had 30 assists on the night. With that kind of ball movement it’s really hard to lose a game, if they can repeat that performance tonight it’s a wrap for the Lakers.
History is also not on the side of the Nuggets. This team has never swept a Playoff series and they’ve never been to the NBA Finals before. They have the Lakers figured out though, which is the most important thing here. They’ve beaten them 4 times in the last 5 meetings and dating back to Round 2 vs Phoenix, the Nuggets are currently on a 5-game win streak.
I’m struggling to find any reasons to justify backing the Lakers here. Denver has looked flawless in all 3 games so far, especially on offense. LA just can’t seem to get any stops right now. It’s really hard for a team that’s down 3-0 to get motivated, so I’ll back the Nuggets to end it tonight.
Los Angeles Lakers vs Denver Nuggets Predictions & Odds
So far 2 of the 3 games in the series have gone over the total, with Game 2 being the only exception. Denver has been flying high on the road both in the regular season and postseason with 6 of their last 8 games cashing on the over. The same applies to head-to-head meetings with 13 of the last 20 games cashing on the over.
Although the Lakers have excelled with their defense when playing at crypto.com Arena lately, the over has also cashed 4 times in their last 5 games played there. I don’t expect them to surrender like the Celtics did against Miami in Game 3 on Sunday. The Lakers will put on a good display here, so expect a close game with a lot of points scored. Back the over.
