Article courtesy OddsShark (@OddsShark)
The Los Angeles Lakers are small betting favorites on the NBA odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com as they get set to take on Kawhi Leonard and the rival L.A. Clippers at the Staples Center on Tuesday night to open their 2020-21 season.
The Lakers have been listed as consensus 3-point favorites for Tuesday night’s contest at sports betting sites, with the total set at 223.5 points as LeBron James and company begin the defense of the championship they claimed last season in Orlando.
Clippers vs. Lakers | OddsShark Matchup Report
The Lakers and Clippers seemed to be on a collision course to meet in the Western Conference Finals last season, but the Denver Nuggets had other plans.
The Nuggets knocked out the Clippers in seven games in the second round of last year’s playoffs, before falling to the Lakers in five games in the conference finals. The Lakers from there would go on to beat the Miami Heat in six games in the NBA Finals for their first championship since 2010.
And oddsmakers expect the Lakers to outlast the Clippers in the playoffs once again in the upcoming season, as they’re set as +190 favorites on the NBA championship odds heading into the campaign. Every other team in the league is set at +550 or higher on those futures, including the Clippers who have a line of +600 at the sportsbooks to win the 2021 title.
The Clippers, though, have held their own in recent matchups with the Lakers, winning five of the last 10 meetings between the teams dating back to December 2017. The Clippers picked up the ATS victory in six of those contests, with the OVER/UNDER going 4-6 on the totals.
Montrezl Harrell, Marc Gasol and Dennis Schroder will make their regular-season debuts for the Lakers on Tuesday night, with Harrell leaving the Clippers to join the team in the summer. The Clippers’ major offseason addition was Serge Ibaka, who left the Toronto Raptors to head to California. Ibaka has been dealing with a minor back injury throughout the preseason.
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