The Oklahoma City Thunder drew some positive attention earlier this season when it took wins in two games against the Los Angeles Lakers. Otherwise, things haven’t gone quite so well for OKC, and now the Thunder face Los Angeles again on Friday night at home. The Lakers had won three of their last four before a frustrating loss to Memphis on Thursday, and Los Angeles should be eager to move on and try and take one back from the Thunder in the process.
Los Angeles is favored by 4.5 points in the latest Thunder vs. Lakers odds from Caesars Sportsbook, and the over-under is set at 218. Before entering any Lakers vs. Thunder picks, you’ll want to see the NBA predictions from the model at SportsLine.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in profit on its top-rated NBA picks over the past three-plus seasons. The model enters Week 8 of the 2021-22 NBA season up almost $2,000 on all top-rated NBA picks this season. It’s also on a stunning 121-78 roll on top-rated NBA picks against the spread that dates back to last season. Anyone following it has seen huge returns.
Now, the model has set its sights on Thunder vs. Lakers. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several NBA betting lines for Lakers vs. Thunder:
- Thunder vs. Lakers spread: Lakers -4.5
- Thunder vs. Lakers over-under: 218 points
Featured Game | Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Los Angeles Lakers
What you need to know about the Thunder
The Thunder escaped with a win on Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors by a single point, 110-109. Shooting guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had another strong performance and finished with 26 points and nine assists. Gilgeous-Alexander also had 30 points in OKC’s previous game, a 114-103 win over Detroit. Small forward Luguentz Dort has also had a strong past few games, and has averaged 25 points with 1.5 blocks and four rebounds over his last two.
Oklahoma City has been one of the league’s worst 3-point shooting teams this season, but it has been much better over its last three games. As a team, OKC shot 35.9 percent from beyond the arc during that stretch. Dort was one of the team’s better outsider shooters in those games, and hit 42 percent of his 3-pointers.
What you need to know about the Lakers
LeBron James finished with his 100th career triple-double against Memphis, but it wasn’t enough to get the Lakers a win. He had 20 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds, but he also had five of the team’s 22 turnovers. James had only had eight total turnovers in the three preceding games.
Anthony Davis finished as the high-scorer for the Lakers, with 22 points and eight rebounds. Davis has has scored at least that many points in five of his last six games. He’s questionable for this matchup (knee). Los Angeles is just 4-6 against the spread as a road team this season, even though the Lakers have been fortunate enough to have the lowest opponent free-throw percentage in the league. Oklahoma City has shot just 74.9 percent from the line in 2021, so that should help the Lakers maintain margin should they get out to a lead in this one.
How to make Thunder vs. Lakers picks
The model is leaning under on the total, and it’s also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in almost 60 percent of simulations. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.
Who wins Thunder vs. Lakers? And which side of the spread is a must-back? Visit SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that has crushed its NBA picks to find out.
