Portland Trail Blazers vs Los Angeles Lakers 2/2/22: Starting Lineups, Matchup Preview, Betting Odds, Prediction
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Portland Trail Blazers vs. Los Angeles Lakers Matchup Preview (2/2/22)
The Portland Trail Blazers are heading south to take on the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena this week. The biggest concern going into this game is the status of Lebron James. He’s now been out for three straight games and in his absence, the Lakers dug themselves a three game losing hole. He is set to miss his fourth straight game against the Trail Blazers this week per NBA insider Shams Charania. Their three game losing streak puts them at a season-worst three games under .500 and last week’s loss at Atlanta marked their 11th blown double-digit lead of the season, which is now the most double-digit blown leads in the league. The Trail Blazers are an unimpressive 21-30 on the season and fourth in the Northwest standings having lost three of their last four games. Both teams have been plagued by pretty key injuries within their roster which isn’t helping their losing records.
These teams are 1-1 against each other this season, so it’ll be interesting to see which team breaks the tie. The Lakers and Blazers are in 9th and 10th place in the West, respectively and both desperately need a win.
Portland Trail Blazers vs. Los Angeles Lakers Betting Odds
The Lakers are the 3.5-point favorite in this game and the point total is set at 222. The Lakers are hosting at Crypto.com Arena where they are 15-12, meanwhile the Blazers are 7-17 on the road and 0-1 at Crypto.com Arena. Neither team is good at covering though. The Lakers are 21-30 ATS this season, 12-21 ATS as the favorite, and 10-17 at home. They have a significantly better over/under record, where they have hit over their point total 57% of the time in total and 61% of the time as the home favorite. The Blazers are 21-30 ATS this year and have only covered five times in their last 20 games against a Western Conference opponent. They are 25-25-1 at hitting over their point total and 1-1 on the over/under against the Lakers this year.
Make no mistake about it – neither team has the capabilities right now to blow the other one out of the water, which is why the spread is so small. If Lebron James was playing it would be a game in the win column for the Lakers before the game even starts, but without him, they will have their work cut out for them. Similarly, if the Blazers had Damian Lillard this would be a much more exciting game. Still, the Lakers should still be able to win with Davis and Westbrook leading the charge and hopefully start the win streak they have been manifesting.
My prediction: Lakers win 110-103, Lakers cover, under 222
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TV Schedule
Date: 2/2/22
Time: 10:30 PM ET
Arena: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
Channel: RTNW, SPEC
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Portland Trail Blazers Starting Lineup
PG: Anfernee Simons
SG: CJ McCollum
SF: Nassir Little
PF: Robert Covington
C: Jusuf Nurkic
Portland Trail Blazers Analysis
This Blazers team just lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder who have won just 15 games this year…now. They are fourth in the Western conference and 23rd overall. This team averages the second-fewest points in the paint per game (41.4) as an offense and the fourth-most points against them as a defense (112.4). Also on defense they have the highest opponent three-point percentage, shooting percentage and shooting efficiency as well as managing more fourth quarter points against them than anyone in the league.
They, like their opponent, are also dealing with some pretty key injuries. They lost Nassir Little to a shoulder injury last week after already being down Larry Nance and Damian Lillard. The pressure now points to Robert Covington to pick up the pieces, however in last week’s game against Oklahoma, he showed no signs of doing so. He had two points, four rebounds, and three assists while being 0-5 from the three-point line. This was his fourth single-digit scoring game in their last six games. Simply put, it’s not good enough. He did however have three steals and three blocks in the Thunder game, which is grounds for positivity. C.J. McCollum leads the team in scoring and averages just over 20 points per game.
If they weren’t playing a Lebron James-less Lakers team, I’d give the edge to the Lakers easily, but with an offense so centrally focused on a missing player’s performance, I could see Portland being able to scrape together a win. But they (Covington and McCollum) will need to come out on fire for that to happen.
Los Angeles Lakers Starting Lineup
PG: Russell Westbrook
SG: Avery Bradley
SF: Malik Monk
PF: Stanley Johnson
C: Anthony Davis
Los Angeles Lakers Analysis
This team cannot finish games, clearly. But it’s less about the talent they have as much as it’s about the injuries they’ve faced. Earlier in the season, they suffered long absences from both Anthony Davis and Lebron James simultaneously and now James is out yet again with an ailing left knee injury. When he does play, he brings the heat, as he averages 29.1 points per game despite only playing in 36 of their 51 games this year. In the Lakers’ 15 games without James, they are 5-10. Without him this week, I don’t see this being an easy game for them, no matter how much the Blazers are struggling.
The triple threat that is James, Davis and Rusell Westbrook, have only played in 16 games together. Westbrook and Davis have had to lead the charge in James’ recent absence. In Davis’ last two games, he’s had 17 rebounds and 58 points, and in Westbrook’s last two games he’s had 55 points and 11 rebounds. Since Westbrook got benched in the Pacers game last week, he’s averaged 22 points, 6.8 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 3.7 turnovers which bodes well for them while James is out. They are taking an obviously conservative approach to his return as I assume they want to save him for the slim playoff chance that they do have. The Lakers are coming off a six-game road trip where they went 2-4 and now sit in 21st overall in the league.
Their defense hasn’t given much to show for this year. They average the third-most points against them per game (112.6) and points in the paint per game (49.8). They also allow the fourth-most offensive rebounds per game.
Portland Trail Blazers vs. Los Angeles Lakers Daily Fantasy Picks
Malik Monk will likely get increased playing time off the bench this week coming off a good personal game where he dropped 33 points against Atlanta. He’s expected to get the start this week.
C.J. McCollum remains the biggest threat this Portland team has on offense. He tallied 21 points, seven assists and three rebounds in their loss to Oklahoma last week. They don’t have much else by way of fantasy scorers so he’s the best bet for the Blazers.
