LA Lakers (11-8) at Denver (13-7)
When: Tuesday, November 27th, 2018
Where: Pepsi Center,
Denver, Colorado
Time: 9:05 ET | TV: NBA TV
Opening Odds: Denver -4/211.5
The resurgent Denver Nuggets head home for one game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday before jetting off for a five-game road trop that starts in Portland and ends in Atlanta. The Nuggets are back to playing solid defense and that has translated to wins after Denver struggled in losing six of seven. Denver has now reeled-off three straight victories including a 105-98 victory over Oklahoma City in which they held the Thunder to 35.9 percent shooting. That win has put the Nuggets a half-game ahead of Oklahoma City in the tightly-contested Northwest Division. They will try and avenge a loss to the Lakers earlier this season when they dropped a 121-114 decision at Staples Center. That was Denver’s only loss during the first ten games of the season, as 19 turnovers did them in. The Lakers are on the road for just this one game before starting a four-game homestand against Indiana on Thursday. Los Angeles would be working on a nine-game winning streak right now if it could have found some way to beat the Magic, who knocked off the Lakers 130-117 in Orlando on November 17th before coming to Los Angeles on Sunday and earning a 108-104 victory. LeBron James recorded a triple-double (28 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists) in last month’s victory over Denver.
Turnover did the Lakers in on Sunday versus Orlando, committing 18 of them, with James totaling 11 of them in the last two games, while averaging 3.5 on the season. Point guard Lonzo Ball recorded double-digit rebounds in each of the last two games, but is also turning the ball over too much – 17 in the last seven games – while averaging 8.3 points a contest for the season. Power forward Kyle Kuzma is coming off one his best games of the season against Orlando, scoring 21 on 7-of-15 shooting, while also adding four rebounds and five assists.
Denver shooting guard and second leading scorer Gary Harris (16.8) missed the last game due to an Achilles injury and will be slowly worked back into the rotation, but in the meantime, small forward Torrey Craig is picking up the slack. Craig logged a season-high 36 minutes versus Oklahoma City and contributed eight points and 10 boards while also doing a solid job defensively on Russell Westbrook. Craig also blocked two shots and recorded a steal in the victory.
The Lakers are starting to play better, but Denver is a much better team, especially defensively and should win this game going away. I’ll lay the four points here.
Pick: Nuggets -4
- Lakers are 6-0 ATS in their last 6 Tuesday games.
- Lakers are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games following a ATS loss.
- Lakers are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
- Lakers are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Lakers are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
- Lakers are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 vs. Western Conference.
- Lakers are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games following a straight up loss.
- Lakers are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games playing on 1 days rest.
- Nuggets are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 vs. NBA Pacific.
- Nuggets are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games following a ATS win.
- Nuggets are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games following a straight up win.
- Nuggets are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 Tuesday games.
- Nuggets are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Nuggets are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 when their opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Under is 4-0 in Lakers last 4 overall.
- Under is 6-1 in Lakers last 7 games following a ATS loss.
- Under is 5-1-1 in Lakers last 7 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
- Under is 5-1 in Lakers last 6 vs. Western Conference.
- Under is 9-2 in Lakers last 11 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Under is 4-1 in Lakers last 5 games playing on 1 days rest.
- Under is 4-1 in Lakers last 5 road games.
- Under is 8-2-1 in Lakers last 11 when their opponent scores 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Over is 4-1 in Lakers last 5 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
- Under is 7-2 in Lakers last 9 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Over is 10-4-1 in Lakers last 15 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
- Under is 7-3 in Lakers last 10 Tuesday games.
- Under is 24-11-1 in Lakers last 36 vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
- Under is 4-0 in Nuggets last 4 overall.
- Under is 6-1 in Nuggets last 7 home games vs. a team with a winning road record.
- Under is 6-1-1 in Nuggets last 8 vs. Western Conference.
- Under is 4-1 in Nuggets last 5 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Under is 9-3-1 in Nuggets last 13 games following a straight up win.
- Under is 3-1-1 in Nuggets last 5 vs. NBA Pacific.
- Under is 21-8 in Nuggets last 29 vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
- Under is 13-5-1 in Nuggets last 19 when their opponent allows 100 points or more in their previous game.
- Under is 7-3-1 in Nuggets last 11 games following a ATS win.
- Under is 9-4-1 in Nuggets last 14 games playing on 2 days rest.
- Home team is 7-0 ATS in the last 7 meetings.
- Over is 10-2 in the last 12 meetings in Denver.
- Over is 19-5-2 in the last 26 meetings.
- Lakers are 7-15 ATS in the last 22 meetings.
- Lakers are 0-4 ATS in the last 4 meetings in Denver.
