Lakers vs. Nuggets prediction and odds for Game 1 of Western Conference Playoffs
By Reed Wallach
The Los Angeles Lakers advanced out of the Play-In Tournament to face the Denver Nuggets in a rematch from last year’s Western Conference Finals.
The Lakers competed with the Nuggets in a majority of the series, but couldn’t even grab a win in the series, resulting in a sweep in what eventually became the Nuggets NBA Championship run. Now, re-tooled and with more rest, can the Lakers get off to a strong start in this series in hopes of a better result?
Let’s check out the odds, the key players and our best bets for Game 1.
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Lakers vs. Nuggets Odds, Spread and Total
Lakers vs. Nuggets How to Watch
- Date: Saturday, April 20th
- Game Time: 8:30 PM EST
- Venue: Ball Arena
- How to Watch (TV): ABC
Lakers vs. Nuggets Injury Reports
Lakers Injury Report
Cam Reddish - ankle - questionable
Nuggets Injury Report
N/A
Lakers vs. Nuggets Key Players to Watch
Los Angeles Lakers
Anthony Davis: For the Lakers to truly contend with the Nuggets, Davis needs to rise to the occasion and keep up with Jokic. The Lakers tried to play Davis off of Jokic and protect the rim as a weak-side defender, but to no avail in the postseason and it continued this season as the Lakers lost all three games to Denver with Davis posting +/- ratings of -17, -11 and -11.
Denver Nuggets
Nikola Jokic: The soon-to-be three-time MVP will look to jump-start another NBA Finals run against a team he has handled, including this season. Jokic averaged over 29 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in the three wins for Denver.
Lakers vs. Nuggets Prediction and Pick
While I’m not calling for an outright upset, I do believe the Lakers can cover this big point spread on Saturday night, especially with the Nuggets playing for the first time in six days while the Lakers dipped its toe in the postseason waters with a road win against the Pelicans in the Play-In Tournament.
While the teams haven’t played all that recently, the Nuggets closed as one point favorites in Los Angeles with Jamal Murray in the lineup that resulted in a 10-point Lakers loss despite the game being tied after three quarters.
That has been the issue for the Lakers for the past two seasons, unable to close games out against the Nuggets, who have the most efficient offensive hub in the NBA in Jokic.
Denver may be able to outlast Los Angeles, but the Lakers have posted a higher effective field goal percentage than the Nuggets and may be able to hang around due to its perimeter shot making opening up driving lanes for the likes of LeBron James and Davis.
I’ll take the points in Game 1.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.