Los Angeles Clippers at LA Lakers (Friday - 10:00)
One surprising positive for the Lakers has been Carmelo Anthony, who has been shooting the best 3PT% of his career at 42%.
After LeBron James received the first suspension of his career from getting in a scuffle with Piston Isaiah Stewart last week, he was ruled out of playing more games because of testing positive for COVID-19. Russell Westbrook is a good stand-in for LeBron, though they still need to figure out how to play on the court together and build chemistry with the team. This Lakers roster feels like a blast from the past with Carmelo Anthony, Deandre Jordan, Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, and LeBron all contributing, proving that you can still ball at a high level well into your 30's if you take care of yourself. On the Clippers' side, Paul George has also been putting in vintage performances, carrying the team while Kawhi Leonard recovers from a torn ACL. The battle for Los Angeles will look very different come playoff time, but for this game, the teams will get to see which role players belong in the rotation when they have their full rosters. One surprising positive for the Lakers has been Carmelo Anthony, who has been shooting the best 3PT% of his career at 42%. A bright spot for the Clippers has been the play of young big man Isaiah Hartenstein, who leads the team in PER (24.08), but it remains to be seen if he can keep his efficiency up with more minutes. On a side note, beginning on Christmas Day, the LA basketball arena will change names from The Staples Center to the Crypto.com arena, though the Clippers will be moving to the Intuit Dome in 2024, which recently broke ground.
Line: Lakers favored by 1.5 points
Over/under: 218.5
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