Ari Atari
LA Lakers -5
The Lakers have been at home since the night of the 21st when they lost 107-140 to the best offense in the league in the Mavericks. Minnesota has been home since the night of the 15th, after giving up 131 points to Dallas as well.
Minnesota doesn’t have the bodies to keep up here. Both teams surrender points and do their best in a race for points. It’s a tall order for the Wolves to ask Andrew Wiggins to carry the load against LA. Kobe welcomes the young man into the league tonight in his house. This is the first time both teams meet since last March when Minnesota defeated LA 143-107. These are massive scores but who’s going to score them for Minnesota tonight? Mo Williams may give it a go but won’t be at full health, Pecovic and Martin are huge losses alongside Rubio.
Thanksgiving plays into this. It plays into every game in the USA on Friday. The NBA was off last night for teams to head home or rest up for a day. You can assume that effort levels were low yesterday and now it’s time to shake off the turkey and get up for this one. Kobe won’t let him team come out dragging their feet. The Wolves don’t have a real leader out there and their road trip out to the coast with lookaheads at the red hot Blazers and resurgent Clippers the day after Thanksgiving doesn’t sit well with me.
The Lakers are 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 at home to sub .500 teams. They know that wins come at a premium this season and they have to scoop up the ones that lie like injured prey. The Wolves allow 109.7 point per game at 50.8% shooting. The Lakers give up 110.8 points at 48.4%. Like I said before, it’s going to be tough finding the scorers out there for the Wolves to keep up tonight. LA should give their home fans a holiday special win by 6+.