The second overall pick by the Lakers three years ago, Lonzo Ball was traded to New Orleans this offseason. He makes his return to the Staples Center with the Pelicans in a 5-1 SU and ATS stretch, but they are still double-digit underdogs against the top team in the Western Conference.
- Date/Time: January 3, 10:30 p.m. ET
- Arena: Staples Center
- TV Coverage: ESPN, TSN, Fox Sports New Orleans, Spectrum SportsNet
- Sportsbook Odds: Lakers -10.5 | O/U 226.5
- Pelicans vs Lakers Matchup Report
Sportsbook Odds Analysis
Even though New Orleans is in its best stretch of the season, the Lakers have the best record in the West and the Pelicans are still just 11-23 on the season, so Los Angeles opened as a 10.5-point home favorite. With both offenses sitting top 10 in the league, but the Lakers having an elite defense and New Orleans one of the NBA’s worst, the total settles in at 226.5 points.
New Orleans News & Notes
Pelicans star rookie Zion Williamson had his first full practice Thursday since preseason knee surgery, and he’s expected to debut this month — at a time when the Pelicans are playing their best basketball. They’ve won four straight games and five of their last six (SU and ATS) overall, including wins over the Nuggets, Pacers and, most recently, a 127-112 victory over the Rockets.
Brandon Ingram scored 27 points in the win over Houston as he continues his breakout season (25.3 points per game), but the big surprise was that point guard Lonzo Ball also had 27 points — including a career-high seven three-pointers — along with his first triple-double of the season.
Ball, the second overall pick in 2017 by the Lakers, has now scored in double digits in six of his last seven games. He’ll need to continue providing scoring assistance for Ingram, especially against a Lakers team that allows the fourth-fewest points per game.
Los Angeles News & Notes
The Lakers had lost four in a row, LeBron James had seemingly aggravated a groin injury and there was a small sense of concern creeping into Tinseltown.
But James remembered that he’s superhuman and suited up for the next game, Anthony Davis continued to dominate and Kyle Kuzma has provided some depth scoring as the Lakers have won three straight.
James scored a team-high 35 points and recorded his eighth triple-double of the season in the Lakers’ 117-107 win over Phoenix on New Year’s Day, while Davis led the team in scoring the prior game and Kuzma the win before that.
Los Angeles has also picked up its defensive intensity again, looking more like the club with the sixth-best defensive rating in the league, but it may take a more “Showtime” style performance against the Pelicans on Friday — six of the last eight meetings between these clubs have seen the total go OVER.
Betting Pick: UNDER 226.5
The UNDER has hit in six of Los Angeles’ last eight games and in five of New Orleans’ last seven. Although the total has gone OVER a lot when these teams face each other, I’m going to side with the more recent results.
- New Orleans is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
- The UNDER is 4-1 in New Orleans’ last 5 road games.
- Los Angeles is 2-7 ATS in its last 9 games.
