NBA Betting Picks March 6 – Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers
It looks like the train wreck that is the Los Angeles Lakers has finally come to a stop short of the playoff destination so many expected when LeBron James joined the club. The optimists around the team will say there is still time to make up the necessary ground.
CLAIM YOUR CASH SIGNUP BONUS UP TO $1000 ON ALL DEPOSITS HERE
There was more time left before losses to Milwaukee, Phoenix and the Clippers in the last three games prolonged a stretch where the Lakers have won just twice in nine games. The Denver Nuggets will look to end their own three-game slide, but currently the No. 2 seed in the West they don’t have to worry about not reaching the postseason.
Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers
Date and Time: Wednesday, March 6, 2019, 10:30 p.m. ET
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Opening NBA Odds: Check Back Later
Nuggets at Lakers TV Coverage: ESPN
Odds Analysis
The Nuggets have been so good this season that even a three-game losing streak hasn’t impacted their standing as the second-best team in the Western Conference. They’ve experienced rough spells before and each time they responded by ripping off several wins in a row. That’s why they are 42-21 and just 1.5 games off the pacesetting Warriors. Denver has a showdown with the Dubs after this one, and the way the Lakers have been playing it would be easy for the Nugs to take a peak ahead.
Losers of three straight and nine of their last 12, the Lakers are looking more and more like a non-playoff team. Even the great LeBron can’t save them and we’re staring at a James-less postseason for the first time since 2005. As the slide continues, the question of blame takes over. Injuries have played a big part, the biggest to LeBron that forced him out of 17 straight games. The Lakers were fourth in the West at the time of his injury, but they won only six times during his absence and fell off the table.
Nuggets
They’ve lost three in a row, but Mike Malone is faced with a situation most coaches would love to have. Getting players like Gary Harris, Isaiah Thomas and Paul Millsap healthy and back in the lineup has caused a logjam with playing time and rotations being solved on the fly. Facing a big deficit to the Spurs the other day, the Nugs rallied within a point and had a chance to break a long losing streak in San Antonio only to come up empty, 104-103.
One big reason why the Nuggets have been a surprise this season, and I mean a BIG reason, is the play of Nikola Jokic. The 7-foot point guard/center has done it all and if not for that Giannis guy leading the NBA-best Bucks, Jokic would be in line for the league’s MVP. Jokic scored 22 points with 10 rebounds against the Spurs while adding six assists. He leads the Nuggets in all three categories and his 7.6 assists per game rank him No. 7 in the league. He’s a matchup nightmare for every team and he’s had some big outings against the Lakers.
Lakers
Luke Walton’s days are numbered, but you have to wonder if he really wants the gig after what’s transpired this season. His authority undermined by James and Magic Johnson, Walton was given an aging superstar, some draft lottery talent and a bunch of one-year rentals to work with. To top it off the club seemingly has a different roster every game. Add a number of crippling injuries to the players that were supposed to complement James, and you have what the Lakers currently are.
Brandon Ingram, the team’s third-leading scorer with 18.3 points per game, missed the last outing and is questionable with a shoulder injury. In the loss to the Clippers on Sunday, Kyle Kuzma, who ranks second with 18.8 points per game, twisted his ankle and will be out for a few games. Lonzo Ball hasn’t played since mid-January and remains sidelined, leaving the roster and the Lakers playoff hopes thin.
Bet Nuggets at Lakers at BookMaker.eu
With the Lakers young stars hurting and not likely to play, you can expect LeBron to have a big game. But James isn’t going to win games by himself and the Nuggets have overcome some rough patches by putting together impressive runs immediately after. And the Nuggets, for the first time this season, look to be a fully healthy team, which makes them even more dangerous against a depleted and demoralized Lakers bunch. I hate to pile on to the Lakers woes, but I can’t see them beating the Nuggets with what they will have on the floor.
NBA Score Prediction: Nuggets 119, Lakers 110
