Lulling Lakers Look to Wake-Up Against Bucks
Bucks vs Lakers Betting Tips and Matchup Overview
The stars always shine brightest in Los Angeles, and NBA fans will tune in Friday to see some of the NBA’s best. The 2nd seed in the East, Milwaukee Bucks, will face the Western Conference 10th seed Los Angeles Lakers in a primetime showdown on ESPN.
This game features four future hall-of-famers in LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounpo and Damian Lillard, and surely won’t disappoint.
The Lakers have not been able to find solid ground yet this season. After inconsistent play up and down their roster, they are fighting for the NBA playoff positioning as they tread water in the last play-in tournament spot.
The Bucks, who were enjoying a six-game winning streak after the all-star break, started their west-coast road trip with a bad loss to the Golden State Warriors Wednesday. Both teams will look to show up big in this nationally televised cross-conference clash.
Bucks vs Lakers betting lines have opened at Lakers -1, total of 236. Lakers are 16-18 ATS at home while the Bucks are 13-18 ATS away.
Milwaukee Bucks vs Los Angeles Lakers 
Day/Time:
Location: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, CA
Streaming: ESPN
Lakers Need to Bounce Back
The Lakers blew it on Wednesday. After a 19-point lead in the first quarter, by the 3rd quarter, they found themselves down 22 at home. For a team that is desperately trying to get themselves out of the play-in, losing to the Sacramento Kings in LA was deflating.
NBA divisions don’t mean much anymore but the Lakers being dead last in the Pacific Division, after a trip to the Western Conference Finals last year, wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card.
.@KendrickPerkins says the Warriors have a better chance to make a run than the Lakers:
“It’s Golden State over the Lakers right now any day of the week. … When I look at the Lakers, I see a dysfunctional organization.” pic.twitter.com/oyS1l6S52y
— First Take (@FirstTake) March 7, 2024
What made the pain from Wednesday’s loss worse is that the Lakers schedule is only going to get harder. Friday’s game against the Bucks starts a tough four-game stretch including games against conference foes like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Warriors and Kings.
The Lakers hope for success Friday (and long term) rests in the hands of their two all-stars, Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Somehow, in his 21st season, LeBron is playing as well as can be expected, currently averaging a team-high 25.3 points per game on a super-efficient 52% shooting and 40% from three.
Davis has been much less reliable. In the Lakers last four games he has posted scoring lines of 40, 17, 24 and 14. Davis’s inconsistency has plagued the Lakers all year and his NBA matchup with Giannis on Friday will be a shot at redemption (As a Laker Davis has played well against Giannis, averaging 27.3 ppg in their seven meetings).
Bucks Tough Road Ahead
Although things aren’t as dire for the Bucks, with the 3rd toughest remaining NBA schedule, the Bucks need to establish themselves as contenders in the final stretch of the season (current NBA finals odds +320 to win the East).
Up until Wednesday’s loss against the Warriors, the Bucks certainly looked like legit contenders, powered behind a return to their old defensive scheme. The Bucks are more comfortable with the slower pace offenses like the Lakers, so expect a strong defensive showing.
The Warriors game Wednesday was certainly a step back for the surging Bucks. With an almost fully healthy lineup (the Bucks have been without Khris Middleton for weeks) they were smacked by the Warriors early and never were able to come back.
Giannis was held to only 23 points, much below his season average of 30 ppg, he will look to bounce back in a big way in LA.
Prince? How about King?
Bucks vs Lakers betting has been hard to predict in these teams’ last few meetings. In both team’s last five matchups, the Bucks are 3-2 ATS and 2-3 for over/under. In their last few games, however, the Bucks are 6-1 ATS while the Lakers are just 2-6 ATS.
The spread Friday is Bucks +1, basically a pick’em and we like the Bucks due to their higher quality play of late.
A fun prop bet for Bucks vs Lakers betting we like Friday is Taurean Prince making a single 3-pointer. Averaging almost 22 minutes a game in the last ten, Prince’s playing time has some Lakers fans wondering if he has some sort of blackmail on coach Darvin Ham.
Prince has made at least one 3-pointer in seven of the Lakers last ten games and we expect the defensive focus to be on LeBron and AD.
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