Gambling: Short-handed Lakers offer enticing wager prospect
The work week kicks off with a six-game NBA slate and a handful of attractive early bets.
As always, my top two early bets to target are listed below, accompanied by the respective book where you can find the odds listed.
Chicago Bulls (+1) at Houston Rockets (-110, PointsBet)
While certainly not for the faint of heart, the Bulls come in as a favorable bet for quite possibly the first time this season for a variety of factors.
First and foremost, Zach LaVine has been playing like one of the best offensive players in the NBA, sporting a 36.4% usage rate and 22.9% assist rate over the last two weeks, resulting in averages of 34.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game.
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That plays a huge factor against a Rockets’ team that sees some alarming rate decreases with Victor Oladipo (doubtful) and Christian Wood (ruled out) out. In that situation this season, they’ve seen a +9.05 jump in points allowed per game (120.33), a -5.56 drop in net rating (-6.94), a -8.38 drop in defensive rating (114.54), and a -6.40 swing in plus/minus (-8.33).
The point: This team is noticeably worse without these two players on the court, and with the Bulls playing great basketball behind the efforts of LaVine, taking them as an underdog here provides nice value.
If the money line opens up at plus money, that would be another bet to hop on.
Washington Wizards at Los Angeles Lakers, under 226.5 total points (-110, FanDuel Sportsbook)
While the Wizards have been hit or miss in terms of betting the under (13-14), the Lakers have been the second-most profitable team in betting the under (20-11).
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As odd as it may seem, they get even more
enticing without Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder, who have ruled out for Monday’s game.
Without these players, their offensive rating takes a massive nose-dive, from 109.33 to 98.27 (-11.06), while their points scored per game goes from 111.77 to 96.00 (-15.77).
Sure, the sample size with both Lakers off the floor is small, but both are above average players on both ends of the court, so the differentials make sense.
The Wizards run at a fast pace and allow 119.15 points per game, but against a Lakers team that outside of LeBron James, has no offensive threats near the caliber of Davis or Schroder, we could see their defense with improved success Monday.