Los Angeles Lakers vs Charlotte Hornets Predictions and Odds Jan 28

Los Angeles Lakers vs Charlotte Hornets Betting Preview

WagerTalk NBA handicapper Andy Lang offers his Los Angeles Lakers vs Charlotte Hornets betting preview for Friday, January 28. At the time of posting, the Hornets have opened as a 6.5-point home favorite over the road Lakers, with the total sitting at 228.5 points.

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Friday, January 28	NBA Betting Notes
Point Spread:	Los Angeles Lakers +6.5 vs Charlotte Hornets
Total:	228.5 Points
Game Time:	7:40pm ET / 4:40pm PT
Arena:	Spectrum Center in Charlotte, NC
TV:	ESPN

Los Angeles Lakers vs Charlotte Hornets Analysis

The Hornets will host the Lakers today as LA comes off a loss last night where everyone was waiting to see if Anthony Davis would play or not, and then he did play and LeBron sat out. Davis looks good to go today, and LeBron is a game time decision, but I would guess he’s playing.

Neither team is playing great right now, but that’s not our concern. We’re looking to see if there’s a winning bet to be had in this game, so let’s take a look as the Hornets are -6.5 favorites, and the total is 228.5

Lakers Medium Three

It’s hard to call them a Big Three when Westbrook has been bad and Anthony Davis has been unavailable. Last night we saw how limited they are without LeBron as they got steamrolled by Philly and they only scored 87 points. They’ve alternated wins and losses the last seven game which demonstrates their inconsistency.

The Medium Three all played against Brooklyn and it resulted in a 10 point win, but that was a depleted Brooklyn team and only scoring 106 against them almost seems like a disappointment. I won’t be looking at against the spread stats as the lack of consistency from the lineups throw these stats off, but I won’t be putting my money on the Lakers anytime soon until I see them become a cohesive team.

Hornets Hot and Cold

Charlotte has become a hard team to figure out and that’s a tough spot for bettors. They are 4-3 their last seven, but the point differential has been remarkable. In their three wins they’ve won by 32, 23, 9 and 10. In their losses they’ve lost by 7, 22 and 12. So they win and lose big, and that’s tough to handicap what’s going to happen tonight.

They’re 7-3 against the spread their last 10 and 3-7 over/under their last 10, but I like how they matchup offensively against the Lakers. Charlotte has three guys who can explode against a bad team, and I believe two of them will, which leads me to my favorite play in this game.

Los Angeles Lakers vs Charlotte Hornets Prediction

I’ll roll with the Hornets -6.5 tonight. I don’t trust LA, they aren’t a cohesive team, and they’re way too dependent on LeBron. Charlotte’s offense should flourish and when the Hornets win, they win big. L.A. off a back to back, I’ll take Charlotte.

PREDICTION: Hornets -6.5

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Los Angeles Lakers vs Charlotte Hornets Preview from GoldSheet

Obviously before getting too deep into any analysis here it would be important to know the status of LeBron, who was a late scratch last night in Philly because of a sore knee. We’ll see if the injury is something a a bit more serious or rather just a precautionary move with games on back-to-back nights and assuming King James would be a bit better to go on Friday.

We’ll proceed on those lines and figure on LeBron being available…but we’ll still prefer the Hornets. All of the cylinders were firing for Charlotte on Wednesday at Indianapolis when burying the Pacers 158-126, shattering a franchise scoring record in Bob Beamon-like fashion (it had stood at 146 prior, and 141 for a regulation-time game), hitting 24 triples en route.

Indiana, however, was a mere shell of a team as it was down three starters, and things won’t come as easy tonight, especially with AD back mint he Lake Show fold and scoring 31 last night vs. the Sixers. The Lakers, however, weren’t even close in Philly, and even if LeBron makes the post, he and Davis have had precious little court time together in the past six weeks.

LA is only 9-7 this season with the big two both in the lineup, and into Tuesday vs. the depleted Nets, the Lake Show had outscored foes by only four points in the 450 minutes that LeBron and AD had been on the floor together. With the exception of a few glaring exceptions since just before Christmas, the Hornets have been on a tear, and in their current 8-3 straight up run across the past 11 games have beaten the Bucks twice, Sixers, Knicks, and Celtics, not to mention laying 158 on the Pacers.

Though we haven’t seen it in the past week, defense had been much improved across the earlier games of the recent surge, ranking second on the stop end during a recent 7-1 stretch. This Charlotte recommendation is actually more contingent upon the availability of super sixth man Kelly Oubre, Jr., who poured in 39 vs. the Pacers but is nursing a sore ankle that might jeopardize his status tonight.

As long as Oubre is good to go, the Hornets are in play no matter the status of King James, but if Oubre is out, we might reconsider. Play Charlotte.

NBA Stat Sheet

Each day, WagerTalk handicapper Ralph Michaels puts together his NBA Stat Sheet, which offers a head-to-head comparison for how teams are performing in a number of key areas heading into a game. Check out Friday’s sheet, with notes on tonight’s Los Angeles Lakers vs Charlotte Hornets contest.

NBA Betting Strategy

Ride the hot and fade the cold. Which advanced stats should you be paying the most attention to? Kelly Stewart sat down with Teddy Covers and Skee Profit to discuss some of their favorite NBA betting tips.

NBA Odds Screen

WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track the NBA point spreads, moneylines, first half lines and betting percentages for all of Friday’s NBA games, including this Los Angeles Lakers vs Charlotte Hornets showdown, from your desktop or phone.

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