basketball | Monday, January 16, 2023 2:14 PM (Revised at: Monday, January 16, 2023 2:15 PM)

LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets Best Bet: Lakers Finally Bounce Back

Aleksa Drobnjak

LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets Best Bet: Monday, January 16th

After losing 3 games in a row against tough opponents, the 19W-24L Lakers will host the 10W-31L Rockets team who have been the worst team in the NBA so far. The Lakers still have issues with injuries whilst the Rockets may be complete since K. Porter is finally listed as “questionable”.

In this article:

LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets Preview
LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets Best Bet

LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets Preview

Tue, Jan 17th. 02:30 am (UK time)

Once again we are witnessing a turbulent year for the Lakers who had high expectations before the start of the season. A. Davis remains sidelined because of a foot injury and the Lakers team is sitting only at the 13th spot in the West. Lebron James is having a great season but his supporting cast has not been the best. The Lakers are only the 19th most efficient offence in the league even with James slashing and creating so many open looks. They are averaging 116.5 PPG and 25 APG. They are letting their opponents score 117.6 PPG which tells us their biggest problem is on the defensive side of the court.

We expect the Lakers to go over their average PPG but also let the Rockets score their share.
Tonight the Lakers will have to do without A. Davis with a foot injury, A. Reaves (Hamstring), and L. Walker (Knee Injury). P. Beverley is currently listed as “questionable”.

The Rockets are probably the worst team in the league until this point. They have only won 10 games out of 41 but their goal for this season is not to reach the playoffs but to develop synergy and chemistry inside their young core. They are the rock bottom team in the NBA in offensive rating, scoring below 110 PPG and letting their opponents score 117+ PPG which gives them an average margin of -7. We will stay off the handicaps as the Lakers are unpredictable and the Rockets have been shaky in covering the lines recently.

Both teams are averaging a lot of possessions per game, but their efficiency lacks, this is why they are facing all these issues on offence. We believe tonight’s game will be a wild west duel between offences because none of the teams are capable of playing defence. The opening line of 233.5 points has already moved to 234.5 and we expect it to be closer to 236.5 before the game.

LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets Best Bet

The last two games between these two teams combined for 520 total points. We believe tonight the story will be similar as the Lakers have to show up and finally start climbing the ranks, and the talented offence of the Rockets will finally show us why they have been praised so much.