A marquee matchup will highlight the betting slate when the NBA resumes play on Thursday night, as the Los Angeles Lakers take on the rival Los Angeles Clippers as 4-point favourites on the NBA odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
LeBron James’ team sat atop the NBA’s Western Conference standings when the league suspended play back in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they hold a sizeable 5.5-game lead over the second-place Clippers going into Thursday night’s matchup at ESPN Wide World of Sports Arena in Orlando.
The Lakers were on a roll just prior to the suspension of the season, posting straight-up wins in 11 of their most recent 13 contests, according to the OddsShark NBA Database. And despite trailing the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks by three games in the overall standings, Los Angeles sits as a clear favourite on the NBA championship odds at a short +200.
While the Lakers have piled up SU wins, they have struggled at times to reward bettors, going 13-10 against the spread in their past 23 overall contests. Those struggles have intensified when they have been pegged as narrow betting chalk, with Los Angeles stumbling to a middling 4-5 ATS record in their past nine games while favoured by five or fewer points.
The Lakers have also enjoyed little success against the rival Clippers in recent years, dropping two of three SU and ATS to Kawhi Leonard and company this season, and going a dismal 6-24 SU in 30 meetings since November 2012.
That’s good news for the Clippers, who look to build on the 7-1 SU run they carried into the pause in play. The team’s recent steady play was a welcome development after enduring a bout of inconsistency in December and January, and opening February on a shaky 1-4 SU run. The resurgence has also lifted the Clippers to third on the NBA futures, where they sit as a +300 wager.
Earlier on Thursday night, the NBA restart tips off with the New Orleans Pelicans taking on the Utah Jazz as narrow 2.5-point chalk at betting sites. The Pelicans return to action in desperation mode after entering the pause trailing the Memphis Grizzlies by 3.5 games in the hunt for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.
The Pelicans posted a pair of decisive SU and ATS wins just prior to the pause, but have struggled while going 3-11 SU in their past 14 meetings with Utah. The Jazz sit fourth in the Western Conference standings after going 5-1 SU in their past six outings, but return to action as a distant +6600 wager on the NBA championship odds.
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