The Minnesota Timberwolves head to Tinseltown to take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are outside the picture if the playoffs start today. The Wolves are two games behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the 8th spot and 1.5 games behind the 9th placed Los Angeles Lakers. And although there are still plenty of games to be played, the Wolves have a chance to gain on the Lakers on Thursday night.
Karl Anthony Towns leads Minnesota with 22.5 points 12.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. 2011 MVP Derrick Rose is having a brilliant season with 18.9 points and 4.8 assists per game. Andrew Wiggins is scoring 17.5 points per game while Jeff Teague leads the team with 8.1 assists and 11.5 points per game.
The Wolves rank 16th in the NBA in scoring at 111.8 points per game and they are also 14th in passing with 24.5 assists per game. Minnesota is 18th of the glass with 44.9 rebounds per game and they are allowing 111.6 points per game which is 17th among 30 NBA teams.
Just when the young Lakers were starting to play better recently, they suffered another setback when Lonzo Ball suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain and is expected to be out for 4-6 weeks. The Lakers enter this game having lost two in a row after it appeared that
Ball had stabilized the team with wins over the Bulls and Thunder. Good news though is that Rajon Rondo is expected to make his return for the Purple and Gold.
With LeBron still out, Kyle Kuzma leads the Lakers in scoring with 19.3 points per game while grabbing 6.0 rebounds per contest. Brandon Ingram is adding 16.9 points while Javale McGee is producing 10.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game while Kentavious Caldwell Pope is scoring 10.0 points. Big man Ivica Zubac is putting up 11.7 points per game in his last 10 games played.
Los Angeles scores 112.3 points per game which is 11th best in the league. The Lakers are ranked 15th in passing with 24.4 assists per game. They are also 5th off the glass with 47.5 rebounds per game while they are 20th in scoring defense at 111.8 points per game allowed.
The Wolves are 6-4 SU in their last 10 games played and 2-2 SU in their last four road games. The Lakers are 4-6 ATS in their last 10 games played and 2-3 SU in their last five home games. Head to head, Minnesota is 7-3 SU in their last 10 meetings against Los Angeles.
We know how the Lakers have struggled since Christmas Day and they will continue to do so with James still out. The team had started to make progress lately but then Lonzo Ball got hurt. Positive news is that Rajon Rondo is expected to return for Los Angeles, giving them some stability on offense and leadership on the court.
Minnesota is struggling to string up wins and unlike the Lakers, they aren’t missing any key players right now. The Wolves have a healthy Karl Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins but it seems they can’t elevate the level of play of their teammates, especially on defense. Instead, Derrick Rose has been the spark plug for this team but given his injury history, you can’t expect D-Rose to put up one stellar game after another.
Los Angeles still has a positive point differential at home while Minnesota is being outscored by 5.7 points on the road. The main reason behind this is that Los Angeles plays defense or at least tries to while the Wolves don’t play D at all. That said, I’ll take the home team at even money here. I’m picking the Los Angeles Lakers to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves on 1/24/19.
Minnesota is 5-5 ATS in their last 10 games played and 2-2 ATS in their last four road games. Los Angeles is 4-5-1 ATS in their last 10 games played and 1-3-1 ATS in their last five home games. Head to head, the Wolves are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 meetings against the Lakers.
Minnesota is 3-7 ATS in their last 10 games after an ATS win, 2-6 ATS in their last 8 Thursday games and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games when playing on one day rest. Los Angeles is 1-4-1 ATS in their last six games when playing on two days rest, 4-1 ATS in their last five Thursday games and 1-4-1 ATS in their last six home games. The oddsmakers are calling this a close game and in such I like the home team. It also helps that the home team has won in eight out of the last 10 meetings between these teams so I’ll take the free basket here and the home team. Prediction: Lakers +1.5
The over is 7-3 in Minnesota’s last 10 games played and the over is 3-1 in their last four road games. The under is 6-4 in Los Angeles’ last 10 games played and the under is 3-2 in their last five home games. Head to head, the under is 3-1 in the last four games between these teams.
The under is 28-13 in the last 41 games played by the Lakers and the total has gone under in six out of their last nine games overall. The over is 19-7 in the T-Wolves’ last 26 games and the total has gone over in seven out of their last 10 games overall. Between the Lakers’ ability to play defense and the Wolves’ lack thereof, I think the home team dictates the pace of this game. Prediction: Under 228.5
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