LA Lakers vs LA Clippers Prediction: the Tight LA Derby

Two clubs from Los Angeles will meet in another NBA regular season game. The Lakers take on the Clippers. Bookmakers have a clear preference for the Clippers, but are they the obvious favorites?

LeBron James has already been asked why the Lakers are not shooting well from beyond the arc at the start of the season. King's answer about the lack of shooters is logical because the club is woefully short on shooters. The Lakers run out of space on offense, forcing Anthony Davis and LeBron to take tough shots. Davis misses a lot of mid-range shots, and recently an advanced statistic called Anthony's shot one of the worst in the league over the last two years. Injuries to role players have come at the wrong time, with Dennis Schroder and Thomas Bryant in the infirmary. With Kendrick Nunn, Patrick Beverley, and Russell Westbrook, it's not that difficult to make up for Schroeder's absence, but a shooting center like Bryant is a severe loss.

After five losses in 6 preseason games, Darwin Ham's team started the regular season with a 109-123 loss to Golden State. The fact that Westbrook made 7 of 12 shots from the field did not help matters either. Nine Lakers played ten or more minutes on the floor, but the role players were very unhelpful. LeBron put in a spectacular performance, adding 14 rebounds and eight assists to his 31 points, while Anthony Davis had 27 points.

Even with the constant setbacks in the postseason, the Clippers continued to patiently build a team around Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and now the club has arguably the strongest pool of role players in the league. Tyronn Lue even had to rack his brains to pick a starting point guard: Reggie Jackson has won the competition so far and John Wall. Marcus Morris, Robert Covington and Norman Powell could easily make the starting five for most NBA teams, and then there's Terrence Mann, Luke Kennard, Nicolas Batum and Amir Coffey. All of the strongest players are in the lineup right now: a little doubtful that Jackson will play with the Lakers.

In 4 preseason games Tyronn Lue's team has won 2 games and lost their last 2. In their last game, the Clippers fell short against Denver, 115-126. Only Norman Powell played more than 20 minutes on the floor, while the coach decided not to burden the rest. Kawai Leonard didn't even play - perhaps that had some effect on the outcome. The opponent's advantage in many statistical areas was minimal, but Los Angeles was trump card-less. Powell was the Clippers' most prolific scorer with 34 points.

The Lakers had a lot of problems against Golden State, and even the best play of their star trio did not save them from losing. The team is capable of defending decently, and the start against the Warriors was a drawn-out affair. The Clippers have a number of role players who can also play hard on the court, so a low-scoring game may be in order. It will be hard for the home team to come out on top.

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