The Los Angeles Lakers welcome the Oklahoma City Thunder this weekend at crypto.com Arena. The Thunder are undefeated through two games in their California trip, but can they end their West Coast journey with a takedown of the Lakers? Or, will Los Angeles score a win at home before an upcoming four-game road trip?

Catch this game live on Saturday, November 30, 2024 at 11:00 AM, Manila time

Away: Oklahoma City Thunder (14-4/6-2 Away)

Projected Starting Five:

• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Luguentz Dort
• Aaron Wiggins
• Jalen Williams (DTD)
• Isaiah Hartenstein

The Thunder are coming in hot to this game. They arrive in Tinseltown having won all of their last three games, including a 105-101 victory over the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco on Thursday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 35 points, tough, he needed 28 field goal attempts to get there. 

As a team, OKC shot just 45.9% from the floor, but that game also showed how the Thunder can win with their defense – which they have done a lot of times this season. Oklahoma City is currently second in the NBA with just 103.8 points allowed per game and tops with a 49.5 defensive eFG%.  The Thunder are a stingy bunch and cause a lot of havoc defensively. In fact, they own the best defensive turnover rate (16.5%) and are forcing opponents to give up the ball 19.3 times per contest – also No. 1 overall.

Home: Los Angeles Lakers (11-7/7-2 Home)

Projected Starting Five:

• Austin Reaves
• Cam Reddish
• Rui Hachimura
• LeBron James
• Anthony Davis 

The Lakers prevented a four-game skid with a 119-101 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on the road a day before Thanksgiving Day. Los Angeles sliced through the Spurs’ defense like a sharp knife would a turducken, as LA shot 53.3 percent from the floor and hit 13 of 34 attempts from deep. All five Lakers starters finished in double-digit scoring and they’re led by rookie Dalton Knecht, who dropped 20 points. 

LeBron James was not too shabby with a triple-double of 16 points, 11 assists and 10 boards. But the Thunder is a different beast than San Antonio. One good sign for the Lakers, though, is that they have won and covered the spread in all of their last three meetings in LA with Oklahoma City, dating back to the 2022-23 season. Anthony Davis, who had 19 points in the Spurs game, could have a big outing against the Chet Holmgren-less Thunder. Davis is leading the Lakers this season with 29.2 points per game on 55.5 FG% and 11.5 rebounds per outing.

Picks

Spread: Oklahoma City Thunder  (+2.0)

Over/Under: Under (228.5)