Free NBA Pick: Blazers vs. Lakers NBA Odds
Looking for Portland Trail Blazers vs. Los Angeles Lakers free NBA picks & NBA odds? NBA betting sees the Blazers taking on the Lakers on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2022 at the Crypto.com Arena. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NBA basketball matchups so stay tuned for more FREE daily NBA hoops predictions like this Blazers Lakers matchup.
2022 NBA Handicapping
(21-30) Portland Trail Blazers vs. Los Angeles Lakers (24-27)
Date: Wednesday, February 2nd, 2022
Time: 10:30 PM EST
Venue: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California
NBA Moneyline Odds: Blazers +150 | Lakers -154 (Bet Now!)
NBA Betting Odds: Lakers -3.5
NBA Betting Total: 222
Wednesday, February 2nd finds the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers playing their third of four meetings. The Pacific Division rivals split the prior two matches with Portland winning 105-90 on November 6th and the Lakers winning 139-106 on December 31st.
The final match between the clubs will occur in Portland on February 9th. The Blazers last played on Monday losing 81-98 to the Thunder while the Lakers finished their six-game road trip with a 121-129 loss to the Hawks on Sunday.
All-time the Lakers hold the advantage winning 124 of 235 matches versus the Blazers. Last season the teams played three times with the Blazers taking two of the three contests.
Portland Trail Blazers
It seemed like the Blazers had turned a corner winning six of eight matches but then stumbled losing four of five games. The timing coincided with the loss of Nassir Little who suffered a labral tear in his shoulder and is lost for the season.
Damian Lillard underwent abdominal surgery in mid-January with the initial timeline of six to eight weeks but the franchise won’t rush him back especially after this injury plagued him on and off for the past few seasons.
That means CJ McCollum, Anfernee Simons, Norman Powell, and Jusuf Nurkic will be tasked with carrying the load for the Blazers.
With 51 games in the books, the Blazers are in the 10th seed which would find them in the play-in tournament if the season ended today. They possess the 18th ranked offense (109.9), 28th ranked defense and a net differential of minus -4.3 which ranks 25th.
Given that reality what the Blazers intend to do at the trade deadline is very much up in the air. Will they be buyers looking to swap existing talents to make a step this season?
Or will they look longer term and sell off some assets to collect draft picks and younger assets who’ll fit with Lillard better moving into the future?
Nurkic (ankle)and Simons (hip) are probable, CJ Elleby (hamstring) is questionable and Larry Nance Jr. (knee) is downgraded to out Wednesday. Lillard (abdominal), Cody Zeller (knee) are out indefinitely while Little (shoulder) is lost for the season.
Los Angeles Lakers
Similar to the Blazers, the Lakers aren’t performing up to the level they expected. The moves they made in the offseason have depleted their depth and the big move they made to add Russell Westbrook isn’t working how they expected.
They sit one seed ahead of the Blazers in ninth and are 4.5 games out of catching the sixth seed which would guarantee them avoiding the play-in tournament.
The health of their top two talents has been an issue with Anthony Davis missing 17 consecutive games due to an MCL sprain and while he’s back LeBron James has since missed the last three games with a sore knee and based on the injury report is out indefinitely.
Davis (wrist) is probable, while James (knee) and Kendrick Nunn (knee) are out indefinitely.
NBA Betting Trends:
- The Blazers are 1-4 SU in their last 5 games.
- The Lakers are 1-4 SU in their last 5 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 5 of Portland’s last 7 games
- The total has gone OVER in 9 of the Lakers’ last 13 games.
Free Portland Trail Blazers vs. Los Angeles Lakers NBA Prediction:
Both squads are at a crossroads but at least the Blazers have assets they can use to make roster changes. Although the Lakers would love to switch gears and trade Westbrook, their hands are tied because of his albatross salary.
The decision to get the veteran point guard wouldn’t have happened unless LeBron gave it the green light (and he likely championed it happening). The bottom line is the Lakers purged their depth and more specifically their defensive assets and now have to live with those choices.
In terms of this contest, Portland has played better defense of late and even with Davis in the lineup I think they’ll be
4* Free NBA Betting Pick: Blazers +3.5
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