Two of the best teams in the Western Conference take to the hardwood for an early season showdown when the Oklahoma City Thunder visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night. The game is the second of an ESPN Black Friday doubleheader tipping off at 10 p.m. ET from Crypto.com Arena. With recent wins over Portland and Sacramento, OKC has taken over the top spot in the West, but that doesn’t mean much at this point in the season. The West is expected to be tight all season and early results prove that. Through games of Nov. 26 there are 10 teams at least two games over .500 and only 3.5 games separate OKC from No. 10 San Antonio. Lurking in the middle of that pack is the Lakers, who dropped their third straight game, 127-100, to Phoenix on Tuesday night. LA is a popular betting pick at Bitcoin sportsbooks, but they’ve gone five straight games without a payout.
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Thunder at Lakers Same Game Parlay Picks
Lakers ATS
Thunder / Lakers UNDER
Oklahoma City Thunder
After claiming the top seed in the Western Conference last season, expectations were piled high on the Thunder. Their young, talented roster showed few weaknesses until Chet Holmgren went down with an injury a few weeks ago. With Isaiah Hartenstein still recovering from injury the club was left without a presence in the middle forcing them to play small ball. The style worked against some clubs and didn’t against others.
After winning their first seven games of the season the Thunder went through a stretch without their big men going 4-4. Without proper spacing the offense sputtered and rebounds were hard to come by. The team cashed the UNDER four times during a five-game stretch. While Holmgren is expected to miss several months, the Thunder welcomed Hartenstein to the floor last week. The free agent signee made his debut with a double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds in less than 29 minutes. He also added four blocks and three assists as OKC broke a 2-game losing streak.
Hartenstein proved his worth a few nights later scoring 19 points with 10 boards in a 130-109 win over Sacramento. He will be a key figure for OKC in this game facing one of the best big men in the game in Anthony Davis. Hartenstein’s presence allows Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams freedom on the perimeter and both have delivered. There was a slight dip in overall production, but the Thunder average more than 115 points with SGA contributing a team-best 29.2 points and Williams adding 22.1 points per game.
Dallas Mavericks Team Overview
The Dallas Mavericks are 7-7 straight up, 6-7-1 against the spread, and 6-8 over/under the total. Late on, Dallas has covered one out of their last six games. In contrast, the Mavericks have gone over the total in three of their previous five matchups.
Concurrently, Dallas is 10th in the Western Conference playoff standings. Dallas is four games behind the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference playoff race.
Dallas has NBA metrics of 13th for scoring offense, 6th for field goal percentage, 22nd for 3-point field goal percentage, 21st for free throw percentage, and 13th for offensive rebounding. In comparison on defense, the Mavs have NBA metrics of 7th for scoring defense, 7th for field goal percentage permitted, 4th for 3-point field goal percentage allowed, and 20th for defensive rebounding.
First among Dallas scorers is Luka Doncic, with 28.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game. Also, Kyrie Irving adds 24.8 points and 5.1 assists per game.
The Dallas Mavericks basketball team is consistently one of the worst NBA betting values on the board.
Los Angeles Lakers
At some point the Lakers have to move on from an aging LeBron James. He is still effective at this stage of his career averaging 23.3 point on 50.7 percent shooting with 9.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds per game, but regression is inevitable. As someone once said, Father Time is undefeated. The Lakers are trying desperately to relive the glory of their 2020 championship with James and Anthony Davis leading the way. AD has dominated in a number of games and averages nearly 30 points and 11.4 rebounds.
With their two stars advancing in age and both playing more than 35 minutes a game, opponents have figured out a way to beat LA. The Lakers have been run off the court several times and give up the most fast break points in the NBA at nearly 20 points per. There’s also been a lot of inconsistency likely from an influx of complementary players and a new coaching staff. The Lakers started the year with three straight wins then lost four of five. They won six straight after that but recently dropped three in a row with embarrassing 20-plus point losses to West contenders Phoenix and Denver.
While they are 10-7 through their first 17 games, the Lakers are just 3-10 ATS in their last 13 games. They have had success against OKC, though, winning the last three meetings and five of six while going 5-1 ATS.
Mavericks at Nuggets Same Game Parlay Picks
Denver is a better team than they have shown and should offer more value against the sloppy Mavericks. There is plenty of offensive firepower on the hardwood for this one.
Bookmaker Same Game Parlay Best Bet: Denver Nuggets and Over the Total
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