The LeBron Laker era begins! The new look Lakers go on the road where they will take on a strong Portland squad. Portland led by Lillard have dominated the Lakers in recent years but now with LeBron on the Lakers the dominance is likely to end. Two rivals and playoff level teams in the West should for sure give up a game to enjoy!
Portland Trail-Blazers
Portland are coming into this season with a lot to prove after being swept out for the playoffs for the 2nd straight year. Last season Portland were beaten by the Pelicans 4-0 as a 3rd seed and the pressure to perform this season is very high for this squad, especially Damian Lillard who will look to bounce back after being pretty much shutout in that series. The Portland squad this year have pretty much stayed the same as the main core from last season is still in tact without making any significant additions. Coming into this game Portland are relatively healthy bar Moe Harkless who is probable but is on minutes restriction (20 mins). Gary Trent JR is questionable but he probably wouldn’t be in Terry Stotts plans regardless if he was healthy.
Predicted Starting line-up – D.Lillard, CJ McCollum, A.Aminu, Z.Collins, J.Nurkic
Injuries – M.Harkless – probable (20 mins restriction) , G.Trent JR – questionable
Los Angeles Lakers
The addition of LeBron James has got the Laker nation excited as they for the first time since 2013 look to return to the NBA Playoffs after an unusual run of losing seasons for the franchise. Lakers have made a lot of new additions like Rondo, McGee, Stephenson, Beasley alongside Bron and the growth of the impressive young core makes this team one of the top teams in the West. They may not be title contenders yet but for sure LA will be one of the most entertaining teams this season. Injury wise, Lakers rookie Mo Wagner is the only questionable otherwise everyone else is healthy to play.
Predicted Starting line-up – R.Rondo, K.Caldwell-Pope, B.Ingram, L.James, J.McGee
Injuries – M.Wagner – Questionable
Key Facts
The Trail-Blazers have beaten the Lakers 15 straight times!
Last season Portland won the season series 3-0, all 3 games were close as Portland won them by 3 pts twice and 5 pts the other time. 3.8 avg +-
Lakers are one of Damian Lillard’s favourites teams to play against. 26.55 ppg against them in 20 career meetings, 27.7 ppg against LAL at home and put up 35 ppg against LA last season.
Last season Lakers Blazers meetings had an average of 207 ppg. LAL avg 101.6 while POR avg 105.4 in last seasons H2H
Lakers had a 23rd best OFF RTG last season and 20th in pre-season this year. Portland had 13th best OFF RTG last season and 5th best in pre-season this year
Portland had the 6th best DEF RTG last season but fell to 24th during pre-season whole LA had 13th best DEF RTG last season and 14th best during pre-season
In pre season Portland’s games had 220 ppg, Lakers games had 224 ppg
Lakers are one of the fastest NBA teams with 3rd best pace last year and 2nd during Pre-season this year. Addition of LeBron will make this team even faster this season. However Portland are one of the slowest in pace being 19th highest last season and 27th in pre-season this year.
LeBron James averages 28.2 ppg on the road at Portland for his career and is 7-6 there however he’s 0-4 in previous 4 visits there averaging just 19.5 ppg
Betting Tips and Predictions
In this match we have Portland as slight tipped favourites. That makes the LA win value simply because we see it as a 50/50 game. Despite losing 15 in a row to Portland, the Lakers have proven last year that they can compete and the only think that separated them from wins was Damian Lillard. Now LA have brought in proven winners, a proper closer in LeBron and the young core will have gained experience in how to close games. This will for sure be a close game and a Lakers win at 2.30/2.40 holds value. Furthermore, we can expect a high scoring game simply based on how the Lakers play. Lakers games are normally high paced and high scoring and despite Portland being one of the slower teams, they themselves can get very explosive with Lillard and McCollum and this is just the type of game for them to go off.. We can expect around 225-230 points in this game. If your betting marked has it, Nurkic total points over should come through comfortably as LA struggle to guard bigs, they were getting torched by pretty much every big in pre-season. We can also expect Ingram and LeBron to put together big games for LA. Lakers to win this around 117-114.
Match Odds (TonyBet)
Portland Trail-Blazers Win – 1.64 (Regular Time – 1.69)
Los Angeles Lakers Win – 2.39 (Regular Time – 2.59)
Overtime – 13.00
Match Start – 19th October 3:30 am UK Time
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