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Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Lakers Betting Preview/Player Prop

19 October 2021

The 2021-22 NBA season is finally here, and there are two monster games on the schedule for Tuesday night. The Los Angeles Lakers will host the Golden State Warriors in one of those games, and it should be a terrific matchup.

Golden State is only a few years removed from being a dynasty in the NBA, but there were a number of factors that broke that ended the run. The Warriors are expected to bounce back this season and should once again be a contender in the Western Conference.

Los Angeles won the NBA title just two seasons ago, and they were in the mix last year as well. The Lakers have made some significant changes to its roster, but this could be the most talented team in the league.

The Los Angeles Lakers are 3.5-point favorites over the Golden State Warriors in the season opener.

Splash Brothers Are Back

The Golden State Warriors enter this season with a full complement of players, and that hasn’t been the case in recent years. Klay Thompson has missed significant time with a number of injuries, but he will be suiting it up on Tuesday night.

Stephen Curry has continued to put up monster numbers in the absence of Thompson, but he has needed some help. The Warriors also added Andrew Wiggins in the process, and that will make this team difficult to stop.

Golden State might have some defensive concerns this season, and that might be the lone reason that the Warriors can’t win a title.

Lakers Loaded With Veterans

Los Angeles still has LeBron James and Anthony Davis leading the way this season, but the rest of the roster will look much different. The Lakers were willing to part with nearly all of their depth pieces from a season ago in order to bring in veteran talent.

The biggest additions to the roster include Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony. Both of these veterans should add a major boost on the offensive end of the floor, but it could create liability on defense.

Los Angeles is going to be a nightmare to defend in the paint, and that will be the way they attack Golden State in this matchup.

Lakers Too Tough in LA

There is no love lost between the Lakers and the Warriors, and this is going to be a rivalry that heats up throughout the regular season. The Lakers have a big advantage of playing this game on their home floor, and that’s going to impact the outcome of this one.

The Lakers are a matchup problem for the Warriors, and Golden State isn’t going to be able to shoot their way to a win in this one. There will be plenty of star power on the floor in this game, but it will be the Lakers that are able to celebrate a victory.

Bet the Los Angeles Lakers -3.5 as they are able to pull away at the end of the game to pick up a win to begin the season.

Player Prop

Top Points Scorer: Steph Curry (-280)

When Curry steps on the court, you know he is going to get buckets…lots of buckets. That could be in the regular season, the postseason or even the preseason.

As we saw in the preseason finale for the Warriors, there is not a game too insignificant for Curry to just show up. He poured in 41 points in the meaningless exhibition against the Trail Blazers on 13-of-23 shooting. His performance started MVP chants in the third quarter, which would be laughable except that the 33-year-old veteran looks to be on a mission to get the Warriors back to the NBA Finals.

While he was unable to get Golden State there last year, he did lead the league in scoring with a career-high 32.0 ppg while averaging a career-best 5.3 three-pointers per game. Now that the Warriors are getting back to full strength, one more run could possibly be in the cards.

And all that points to Steph having a big night on a national stage in the opener. While Dunkel sees the Lakers pulling out the win, we’ll take Curry (-280) to lead all scorers.

Keep up with your latest NBA news coverage at The Dunkel Index.

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