Tonight we have a battle between the Lakers and the Rockets as LeBron James make his debut in Staples Center. Both teams lost their opening game so a lot could be on the line here as they look to avoid going 0-2. Both squad gave up a ton of points with LA giving up 128 to Portland and Houston giving up 131 to New Orleans. We can expect a very entertaining, high scoring game between these teams and a crazy atmosphere by the Lakers faithful.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers have started their season with a loss on the road to Portland 119-128 to spoil LeBron James debut. LeBron put up 26 pts 12 Rebs 6 ast but didn’t really come through in the clutch and he’ll look to bounce back from this. Josh Hart added 20 pts while Rondo had 13 pts 11 ast as they were the top performers for LA. Lakers biggest problem was shooting as they went 7/30 from 3 but they have bullied Portland in the paint. LA will need to improve on shooting and defence however if they want to win here. Mo Wagner is the only absentee from the Lakers team for this game.
Predicted Starting line-up – R.Rondo, K.Caldwell-Pope, B.Ingram, L.James, J.McGee
Injuries – W.Wagner – Out
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are coming off a very disappointing season opener as they got pounded by the Pelicans at home 131-112. Houston were also awful defensively as they kept on getting lighten up by the Pelicans offense throughout the whole 48 minutes and many may say that they missed Trevor Ariza who was one of their best defenders last year. Harden and CP3 had sub par performances, Tucker and Gordon were standouts with 19 and 21 pts. Carmelo Anthony scored 9 pts on 3/10 shooting on his debut. Knight Chriss and Qi are all out while Nene is questionable for tonight’s game for Houston as they look to bounce back against the Lakers who they’d dominated in recent years.
Predicted Starting line-up – C.Paul, J.Harden, J.Ennis, PJ Tucker, C.Capela
Injuries – B.Knight, M.Chriss, Z.Qi – all out, Nene – Questionable
Key Facts
Both of these teams are known for their offense. Lakers were 2nd fastest last year while Houston had the best offensive rating.
On average last season there was an incredible 236.5 ppg average In Lakers-Rockets games. Rockets won season series 3-1.
Rockets have won in 8 of their last 9 visits to Staples Center against the Lakers.
James Harden averages 32 ppg against the Lakers in the past 5 seasons (18 games)
LeBron has only been able to average 21 ppg against Houston (7 games) since leaving Miami in 2014.
Rockets were NBA’s best 31-10 on the road last season.
Lakers opening night game against Portland had a combined 247 points while Houston’s opening night game against the Pelicans had 243 combined points.
Betting Tips and Predictions
We expect an explosion tonight in points. First pick is obvious which is over 234 points. Both squads are slacking defensively and it’ll take time to fix it but offensively expect both to click. Lakers will run at any given moment so we’ll see a ton of possessions. They put up 119 in Portland and Portland are a good defensive side. Houston put up 112 on NO despite Harden Paul and Melo not even playing that well. In this game we can honestly see 120+ points from both squads. Harden points over should come through since it’s unlikely that he’ll slack for 2nd straight game and if you look in recent history he’s owned the Lakers big time. In terms of a winner it’s 50/50 if you want to be on a winner it’d be advised to go with LA as they’re Odds are quite high at 2.3/2.4. Expect a crazy atmosphere tonight and an absolute showdown between two of the most entertaining NBA teams.
Match Odds (TonyBet)
Los Angeles Lakers Win – 2.36 (Regular Time – 2.56)
Houston Rockets Win – 1.66 (Regular Time- 1.71)
Overtime – 13.00
Match Start – 21st October 2018 – 3:30am UK Time
