The Golden State Warriors begin defense of their NBA title with a matchup against one of their biggest rivals when they host LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the season opener on Tuesday. It wasn’t that long ago when the Lakers were in this position after claiming the title in 2020, but the downward spiral resulted in a first round playoff exit the following season and completely missing the postseason last year. It’s doubtful a new coach can resurrect the club with Russell Westbrook still hanging around and James getting up in age. It’s unlikely we see a hangover from the Dubs, who earned their fourth title in eight seasons and they are near the top of the futures board entering the new campaign.
The contest between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors takes place at 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, from Chase Center in San Francisco and will air live on TNT. BookMaker.eu will have odds for every game on the Tuesday NBA schedule.
NBA Opening Lines at BookMaker.eu
Los Angeles Lakers +6
Golden State Warriors -6
Over/Under 227
Odds Analysis
I think the biggest surprise is that the Warriors are only a 6-point favorite on the NBA betting line. The defending champs finished 20 games better than the Lakers last season and took three of four meetings while going 2-2 ATS. The Dubs also had the second-best home record during the regular season and including the postseason they had the best home mark winning 79.3 percent of their games while covering in nearly 63 percent of those.
We all know outcomes of preseason games are meaningless so don’t pay attention to the Lakers miserable record and that they got blown out by 47 points by Sacramento in their finale. Their only exhibition win came against the Warriors in San Francisco, 124-121, with both clubs sitting a number of regulars. The Lakers entered last season as the O’Brien Trophy favorite but injuries, inconsistent play and a poorly constructed roster foiled their plans for a postseason invite. Fighting for a spot in the play-in tournament late in the season they dropped eight straight, including a 128-112 setback to the Warriors.
Los Angeles Lakers
The team that played most of last season really wasn’t the team oddsmakers pegged as a championship favorite. James played in 56 of the teams 82 games and Anthony Davis missed more than half the season. And Westbrook was a shell of his former MVP self averaging fewer than 20 points for the first time in 12 seasons while shooting 29.8 percent from three-point range. While they were still productive offensively averaging over 112 points, the defense took a huge step backward.
The absence of AD in the middle and Westbrook’s unwillingness to guard opponents put the Lakers among the worst on the defensive end. Opponents shot 47 percent from the field scoring more than 115 points per game. The Lakers had the fourth-highest OVER percentage in the regular season at 57.3. During their championship 2020 season the Lakers boasted one of the top defense ratings in the NBA.
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors certainly know what it takes to get to the NBA Finals since they’ve appeared in six of the last eight championship series. They also have a pretty good idea what it takes to win. With Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson on the floor the Dubs are in a good position. With Thompson missing the entire 2019-20 season and Curry playing only five games the Warriors went 15-50. Both were back fulltime last season and we saw what happened. The two combined to average 46 points leading the Warriors to 53 wins. The Dubs went 16-6 in the postseason never losing consecutive games.
I guess the only thing that could derail them would be internal strife, and we saw some of that during the preseason. While he’s a big piece of what the club has accomplished I don’t think the Warriors will put up with Draymond Green coldcocking a teammate in practice. Everyone has toed the company line after video surfaced, but the vicious attack will have an impact inside the locker room.
NBA Odds Pick
The teams played some high scoring games last season cashing the OVER in all four. I do expect the Lakers to be a bit better defensively with Davis on the floor. And being the first game there’s likely to be some opening jitters. The Lakers have revamped their roster again and it’ll take time to adjust, which is why I’m backing the Dubs minus the points.
NBA Odds Prediction: Warriors -6 / UNDER 227
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