Los Angeles Lakers vs Houston Rockets betting tips and predictions for Monday’s NBA game on TNT. Lebron and his Lakers look to end a 3-game losing streak on MLK Day as they host the Rockets who have dropped 10 in row. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Los Angeles Lakers
For the 2nd consecutive game the Lakers fell in the clutch as the Philadelphia 76ers beat them 113-112 at crypto.com Arena. LeBron James had yet another masterful performance with 35 points and 10 assists, Russell Westbrook had a triple-double, but in the end nobody could step up when it mattered the most and the Lakers have now dropped 3 in a row. Losing to the Rockets would be a serious hit to their reputation, so they’ll have to bounce back quickly here.
Despite ranking 12th in the West, the Lakers are only a couple of games out of the play-in tournament, so all hope is not yet lost on making the postseason. Playing the Rockets should be a favorable match-up for them, they’ve won 9 of the last 10 meetings and have covered 6 times in those games. We normally see James rest on 2nd nights of a back-to-back, but against the young Rockets he might opt to change that and play here.
Houston Rockets
Speaking of the inexperienced Rockets, they put up quite the resistance last night against the Clippers, leading at half time and being down by only a single point entering the 4th quarter. In the end though, the collapsed in the final 12 minutes of play and lost by 21 points. The good news is they are getting Jalen Green, Jae’Sean Tate and Garrison Mathews back as they served a one-game suspension.
That’s a much needed boost for a team really struggling to get out of a hole they’ve dug themselves in. One glimmer of hope might be their 4-1 ATS record over the past 5 games vs the Lakers. They enter tonight’s game as 6.5 point underdogs, if they can play like they did last night against the Clippers I can definitely see them having a chance here.
The win would mean so much more for the Lakers here, they are still in a hunt for a playoff spot while the Rockets are in full tank mode. Regardless if LeBron suits up or not, the experience is on the home team’s side here and they should get it done.
Los Angeles Lakers vs Houston Rockets Predictions & Odds
Playing the Lakers will suit the Rockets much better than the Clippers yesterday, as they play a lot faster. LA averages the 2nd fastest pace in the NBA with 104.4 possessions a night. Houston dropped out of the top 10 recently, but they are still at 102 per game which ranks 13th. The Clippers destroyed them on the inside yesterday scoring 62 points, so you’d assume the Lakers will have a similar approach to tonight’s game exploiting their weaknesses.
Defending the three-ball is also an issue for Houston, teams are averaging 44.2% made shots from downtown in their last 3 games, only 2 teams in the entire NBA are worse than that. I’m expecting the tempo to be at a high level here, especially with both teams playing their 2nd game in 2 nights. With not much defense being played, the only logical bet here is to go with the over.
