Los Angeles Lakers vs. Golden State Warriors Betting Odds, Analysis

The defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors (36-3) are coming off just their third loss of the season, a 112-110 defeat to the Denver Nuggets Wednesday, and will be playing back-to-back nights when they host the Los Angeles Lakers (9-31) on Thursday.

The Warriors have covered the spread in their following game after each of their previous two losses, and they will attempt to beat the Lakers for the third time this season. Golden State is a big 17-point betting favorite at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

In the first two meetings with Los Angeles, Golden State played tough defense, limiting its opponent to only 82.5 points per game while averaging 110. The Warriors are 7-1 straight up and 6-2 against the spread in the previous eight games between the teams, according to the Odds Shark NBA Database, including a 109-88 victory as 13.5-point road favorites at the Staples Center on January 5.

Golden State does have some injury concerns though, as power forward Draymond Green sat out the team’s 112-110 loss to the Denver Nuggets as 9.5-point road favorites on Wednesday. Interim head coach Luke Walton decided to rest Green to avoid any potential injuries, and the Warriors missed him on both ends.

Green is averaging a team-high 9.7 rebounds, and he has also been a force offensively with four triple-doubles in the previous seven games.

The Lakers saw the Warriors end their season-high, three-game winning streak with a 109-88 loss as 13.5-point home underdogs on January 5. They lost four in a row until they got back on track with a 95-91 victory against the New Orleans Pelicans as two-point home underdogs Tuesday.

Los Angeles' leading scorer Kobe Bryant may sit this game out due to a sore Achilles, and the team is 2-6 SU and 3-5 ATS without him in the lineup this season. He missed the last meeting due to a shoulder injury.

The past two meetings both finished under the total due to the offensive woes of the Lakers, but the over had cashed in eight of the previous 11.

It is also worth noting that Golden State will be playing the second game of a back-to-back situation, and the team has excelled in that scenario recently. The Warriors are 25-5 SU and 21-8-1 ATS the last 30 times they have played the second game of a back-to-back.