Los Angeles Lakers vs Los Angeles Clippers 3/3/22: Starting Lineups, Matchup Preview, Betting Odds, Predictions

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Los Angeles Clippers Matchup Preview (3/3/22)

After a brutal home loss against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers will make the shortest road trip in the history of the NBA. This game will be one of the many for the Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena and will technically be a home game for the Clippers, but could have more Lakers fans. The Clips have won six of their past seven games, with the only loss coming to the Phoenix Suns on the road; hardly anybody beats the Suns at Footprint. However, it is essential to consider that the Clippers have played the Houston Rockets three times during that stretch, which is basically an automatic win every time.

The Lakers just suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Dallas Mavericks at home and will try to bounce back here. After being down 21 points, the Lakers not only clawed their way back into the game but were leading by as much as six points late in the fourth quarter. Of course, they blew the game, and now, they are 1-6 in their past seven games. This team is miserable with or without Anthony Davis, though, so we cannot attribute much more than a small fraction of blame on that. Regardless, check out my betting picks below and the constantly updating odds table, giving you the best lines from all the major sportsbooks!

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Los Angeles Clippers Betting Odds

I like the Los Angeles Clippers against the spread in this spot for many reasons. First, the Lakers are just addicted to losing right now and the morale is visibly low. Additionally, Westbrook has played some terrible basketball recently, Anthony Davis is hurt, and LeBron James has very little help on the offensive end. There also is no hope for the Lakers on the defensive end of the floor, so even if the Clippers aren’t clicking on all cylinders offensively, they should still find ways to score. I like the Clippers against the spread up to four points. Anything wider feels quite dangerous.

How To Watch

Date: 3/3/22
Time: 10:00 PM ET
Arena: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
Channel: TNT

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Los Angeles Lakers Starting Lineup

PG: Russell Westbrook
SG: Austin Reaves
SF: Malik Monk
PF: Stanley Johnson
C: LeBron James

Los Angeles Lakers Analysis

After being down as much as 21 points to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers came back to lead by six, only to blow it in the final minutes. Once Luka came back into the game in the fourth, he floored the gas pedal and scored or assisted on 13 of the final 15 points to close out the game. Dallas has been one of the best teams in the league on the defensive end in the past couple of months, so it is no surprise to see the Lakers struggling to put points on the board. LeBron was highly efficient from the floor, and LA got strong performances from Malik Monk, Carmelo Anthony, and Stanley Johnson but still came up short. There’s not enough chemistry or talent on this team for them to play anything less than fantastic basketball, and that is one of the fundamental issues right there; they struggle to play coherent defense for 48 minutes. If they had a defense comparable to the Mavericks’ defense, then they would be in a similar position in the Western Conference, in my opinion. The Mavs’ roster is not overflowing with offensive talent, so Los Angeles could surely be competitive with a team like that long-term if it genuinely cared about the defensive end. In my opinion, though, it never will.

Los Angeles Clippers Starting Lineup

PG: Reggie Jackson
SG: Terance Mann
SF: Nicolas Batum
PF: Marcus Morris Sr.
C: Ivica Zubac

Los Angeles Clippers Analysis

The Los Angeles Clippers sit firmly at eighth in the Western Conference, four games ahead of the Lakers and 1.5 games back from the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are in seventh. Regardless, the Clippers will likely find themselves in a play-in situation by the end of the season unless they bring back Kawhi Leonard or Paul George before then, which I would describe as highly unlikely. Neither Leonard nor George has a timetable for return, so it would not shock me to see them held out the rest of the season at this point. For this matchup, Los Angeles needs to play stellar defense so that it does not have to rely solely on offensive output. If the Clippers focus their attention on LeBron and force role players to beat them, I love their chances in this matchup.

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Los Angeles Clippers Daily Fantasy Picks

LeBron has had to put the Los Angeles Lakers on his back more times than one can count this season, and they are still under .500. Still, the Lakers’ performance holds no bearing on how we feel about using LeBron in our DFS lineups. Since Anthony Davis sprained his ankle, LeBron has had to step up as the primary scoring option once again. James has posted close to 30 points, eight rebounds, and six assists on a 52/35/76 shooting split this season. These numbers usually increase when AD is not on the floor, which should continue. In 22 games without Davis, LeBron has averaged over 32 points, nine rebounds, and six assists, which hardly makes sense for a player who is 37 years old!

Having a beneficial matchup is so important when it comes to DFS. In this game, I like the idea of starting Ivica Zubac or Reggie Jackson because the Lakers are so bad against opposing point guards and centers. Additionally, the Lakers may start LeBron James at the five again, which could be something to look out for! Zubac has a height and weight advantage over LeBron and the Lakers would struggle to box him out. We just saw what happens when Zubac goes up against teams that struggle against opposing centers; he had 22 points and 12 rebounds against Houston!