
It's always a treat when the Lakers and Warriors meet, and despite the absence of Draymond Green that should remain true on Saturday as L.A. looks to continue its run of form against a Golden State team which is desperate to build momentum after snapping a three-game slide.
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
We'll keep things simple here by highlighting why the two stars on their respective teams should be in a good spot along with one man who should continue to produce for Golden State in the absence of Green.
Let's build a same-game parlay for Lakers vs Warriors on Saturday, January 25 and lay out a few props that will work well as standalone straight bets as well.
DraftKings NBA Odds for Lakers vs Warriors SGP: +470
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It hasn't exactly been the most stellar run for Curry, who's averaged just 17.7 points over his last three games, and perhaps that's the reason Golden State has struggled so mightily.
Curry banged home eight 3-pointers the last time these two teams met back on Christmas Day, something that we could see again with the Lakers continuing to struggle on the perimeter with the 18th-ranked 3-point defense this month according to Cleaning the Glass.
While that's been a sore spot, they've also allowed 50% shooting from the long mid-range and have yielded the majority of their opponents' looks from the mid-range to boot.
That should open the door for a big scoring night here for Curry, who favors those two spots on the floor, and while his production has waned a bit he's still averaging 18.6 shots over his last eight games which should give him a great chance of exploiting this matchup.
Speaking of exploiting a matchup, LeBron James has been able to do that with great success over the course of his career. He absolutely ate the last time these teams met, going for 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting, and he should be in line to do so once again given the state of this Warriors defense.
James forces the issue inside plenty, which should help him pad his points total, but he's also continued to take a great deal of shots from the mid-range which is of note here given the Warriors have allowed the highest frequency of shots in that zone over the course of the last three weeks.
Like Curry, he's coming off a couple of flat nights with 20.5 points over his last two games, but he'd hit this mark in the two games prior and has put up 20 or more shots twice in his last three outings.
He's not starting in place of Green, but Moses Moody has been thrust into the rotation over the last five games as Golden State's depth at forward has become a big issue.
We hit on the Lakers' struggles at the arc and just inside, which are the primary avenues for Moody to score the ball, but they've also ranked just 20th on the glass this month and for the season have allowed the seventh-most rebounds per game to opposing small forwards.
Even with the return of Brandin Podziemski, Moody saw 25 minutes last time out against Chicago, and has now averaged 27.3 minutes in his last five. He's scored at least 11 in each of those contests with two or more rebounds and should be tracking for a big night.
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