In tonight’s Western Conference match-up we will see Los Angeles Lakers hosting Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center, Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Lakers have not been shining this season, winning only 5 games out of last 15 played. However, they did win 3 out of those 5 games in the past 5 games and are currently on a 2 game winning streak. The 3 teams that fell against Lakers were; Memphis Grizzlies (116:102), Miami Heat (127:100) and Orlando Magic (111:95). Whereas Toronto Raptors (114:123) and Portland Trail Blazers (118:109) proved to be too strong. Now they will be hoping to extend their winning streak to 3 with another match at their home stadium. Looking at the recent match against Orlando Magic, the match started with 74 points in the 1st quarter (40:34), where Lakers already got a 6 point lead. Going into 2nd quarter, Orlando reduced the gap to 2 points (62:60), mostly due to the fact they managed to keep the FG% from the home side to 34.6%. With only 2 point deficit going into 2nd half the game was still undecided. But then came the 3rd quarter, in which Lakers “stepped on the gas” and outscored their opponents by 10 points (19:9), shutting down Orlando’s offence, only letting them shot with 10% accuracy. With 12 point lead of Lakers, Orlando had a tough job in the last quarter and they failed. The final score was 111:95 for Lakers and with that they won their 2nd game in a row. Lakers shot 48.3% from the field, committed 13 turnovers and stole the ball 8 times. Orlando on the other hand shot 37.8% from the field with 18 turnovers and 5 steals. In that match we could see 4 players with 19 pts; Randle, Ibaka, Vucevic and Ingram.
Portland Trail Blazers are coming into this match after a disappointing defeat against Detroit Pistons after OT (124:125). With that defeat they are now 2-3 in the past 5 games. Looking at their form in the past 15 games, Portland are ranked the worst team in the West, with a record of 4-11. It’s clear they need to improve as they are slowly but surely dropping from promotion spot for the Play-offs. In the past 5 games, Portland won over Minnesota (89:95) and LA Lakers (118:109), whereas they failed to win against SA Spurs (110:94), GSW (125:117) and as mentioned before Detroit Pistons (124:125). Going back to the game against Detroit Pistons, the match was in Portland’s favour by the end of 1st half with a score of 56:53. Trail Blazers even managed to extend their lead in the 3rd quarter to 7 (87:80), but then came the last 12 minutes, in which Portland lost its rhythm and let Pistons close the margin of 7 points. Game then proceeded into OT, which was close, but sadly not close enough. McCollum tried to score a winning basket for the Portland but sadly failed. Trail Blazers walked off the pitch with another defeat (124:125). Trail Blazers had a 52% accuracy from the field, with 16 turnovers and 5 steals, whereas Detroit shot 51.4% from the field with 9 turnovers and 14 steals. McCollum led the scoreline with 35pts, followed by Jackson (31pts) and Crabbe (30pts).
Verdict & Prediction
These two teams have met each other only 4 days ago, with Trail Blazers taking the win. However, we must take into consideration the fact that that match was played at Moda Center, whereas today’s match will be played at Lakers home ground. This is a huge advantage for Lakers, who are currently on a 3 game winning streak in front of their own fans. They will surely seek for revenge and in my eyes they are more than capable of getting revenge for their last defeat.
Prediction: Los Angeles Lakers +1.5 points
Odds: 1.98 SBOBET
