Denver Nuggets vs Los Angeles Lakers Preview And Expert Tip: Back Nuggets for opening night win

The 2023-24 NBA season tips off on Tuesday night with the defending champion Denver Nuggets hosting the Los Angeles Lakers. It’s a rematch of last season’s Western Conference Finals, which generated its fair share of tension between the two teams.

Jarred Vanderbilt is questionable for the Lakers, while Vlatko Cancar is out for the Nuggets, with uncertainty over the health of Michael Porter Jr, Christian Braun, Jay Huff and Julian Strawther.

Read below for our Denver Nuggets vs Los Angeles Lakers analysis from US sports expert Sam Cox. For more free basketball tips, visit the bettingexpert community, and for more expert tips, visit our Expert Insights section.

In this article:

• Denver Nuggets vs Los Angeles Lakers Expert Tip
• Denver Nuggets Stats and Form
• Los Angeles Lakers Stats and Form
• Denver Nuggets vs Los Angeles Lakers H2H

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DENVER NUGGETS VS LOS ANGELES LAKERS EXPERT TIP

• Expert tip: Denver Nuggets -4.5
• Best odds: 1.91
• Bookmaker: Unibet
• Stakes: 5/10

With homecourt advantage and coming off a dominant run to the title, the Denver Nuggets are unsurprisingly favoured for the first game of the 2023-24 NBA season. Denver lost Bruce Brown in the offseason, but their starters all return. Los Angeles opted to run it back with Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell while adding Gabe Vincent, Christian Wood, Jaxson Hayes, Cam Reddish and Taurean Prince.

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DENVER NUGGETS STATS AND FORM

Denver posted the sixth-best net rating in 2022-23 on their way to the one seed in the West. The Nuggets took their foot off the gas in the second half of the season with a commanding lead at the top of the Conference. They are among the title favourites in NBA winner odds once again.

Jamal Murray was exceptional in the postseason, and looks set for a big year after having to play through some rust at the start of last term. Nikola Jokic is the consensus best player in the league, while the pairing of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Aaron Gordon are invaluable on the defensive end.

The Nuggets are a near-unstoppable offence (being fifth in offensive rating last season doesn’t tell the full story). Their defence is not quite elite, but they showed in the Playoffs that they can dial it up on that end even against a team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

LOS ANGELES LAKERS STATS AND FORM

Unlike the Nuggets, the Lakers love to get out and run. Los Angeles was third in pace last season, with their offence depending on transition points. In the halfcourt, the Lakers were down in 19th by points per play.

At the other end of the floor, it was the reverse. The Lakers were elite defending in the halfcourt, but ranked in the bottom three in points per play conceded in transition. Only nine teams gave up transition opportunities more frequently, too.

While the Lakers were a much better team in the second half of last season after moving on from Russell Westbrook, they are still a tier below the Nuggets. This game may well take a similar pattern to their Playoff series – we like the Nuggets to cover this relatively small spread.

DENVER NUGGETS VS LOS ANGELES LAKERS H2H

The Denver Nuggets swept the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals last season after the teams split the season series with two wins apiece. All four regular-season games were decided by double-digit margins, while the Playoff series was fiercely competitive despite the Lakers failing to get a win on the board.

Over the history of this matchup, the Lakers have 113 regular-season wins to Denver’s tally of 76.

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