It’s Thursday, January 2nd, and the Portland Trail Blazers (11-21) and Los Angeles Lakers (18-14) will face off at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

The Blazers have lost seven straight on the road. Their last game was on December 30, 2024. That night they lost at home to the Philadelphia 76ers. Anfernee Simons scored 25 goals in the loss, 12 of which came from long range. LA’s modest two-game winning streak ended on New Year’s Eve when Cleveland defeated LeBron and company. 122-110. Austin Reaves had 35 points in the loss.

The Trail Blazers are currently 3-13 on the road with a point differential of -9, while the Lakers have a record of 5-5 in their last 10 home games.

We have all the information and analysis you need to know before the game, including the latest on catching tipoffs, odds, current team performance, player stats and of course our predictions, tips and best bets for the game from our modeling tools and team of experts.

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Game details for Trail Blazers at Lakers today

• Date: Thursday, January 2, 2025
• Time: 10:30 p.m. EST
• Website: Crypto.com Arena
• City: Los Angeles, CA

Don’t miss a second of the action and stay up to date with the latest team stats and player news. Check out our daily routine NBA schedule pagealong with detailed matchup pages updated live in-game.

Trail Blazers vs. Lakers odds

The latest odds from Thursday:

• Odds: Portland Trail Blazers (+313), LA Lakers (-402)
• Spread: Lakers -9
• Over/Under: 224.5 points

This gives the Trail Blazers an implied team score of 111.16 and the Lakers 115.85.

Want to know which sportsbook offers the best odds for every game on the NBA calendar? Check this out NBC Sports Live Odds Tool to get the latest information from DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM and more!

Expert tips and predictions for Thursday’s Trail Blazers-Lakers game

NBC Sports Bet Best Bet

Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas) wants Austin Reaves to celebrate a night in front of his home crowd: Austin Reaves over 19.5 points (-105)
“Hello Austin Reaves! He has been sensational in the last three games. He scored at least 20 points in all three games and was on offense for most of the game. He gets his best matchup of the season against the Trailblazers, who give up the most points to the SG position. I like it when he fills it in a big way.”

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Our model calculates predictions for every moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the NBA calendar based on data points such as current performance, head-to-head matchups between players, trending information and projected game totals.

Once the model is complete, we place its predictions next to the latest betting lines for the game to determine a relative confidence level for each bet.

Here are the best bets our model predicts for tonight’s Trail Blazers-Lakers game:

• Money line: NBC Sports Bet recommends a game against the Los Angeles Lakers on the moneyline.
• Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a game ATS against the Portland Trail Blazers at +9.
• In total: NBC Sports Bet recommends a game on UNDER at the game total of 224.5.

Want more NBA best bets and predictions from our team of experts and tools? Check this out Expert NBA Predictions Site from NBC Sports for moneyline, spread and over/under picks for every game on today’s calendar!

Key stats, trends and insights to know ahead of Trail Blazers vs. Lakers on Thursday

· The Lakers have won 4 straight home games against the Trail Blazers
· The Lakers’ last three home games have exceeded the total
· The Lakers are 3-7 in their last 10 games as favorites
· The Lakers have won their last five games against Western Conference teams

If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on today’s schedule, check out our NBA Top Trends Tool on NBC Sports!

Bet on the advantage is your source for everything related to sports betting. Get all the insights from Jay Croucher and Drew Dinsick weekdays at 6pm ET right here or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

Follow our experts on social media to stay up to date with the latest staff content:
-Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
-Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper)
– Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports)
– Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)