Los Angeles Lakers vs Portland Trail Blazers Prediction: will the Lakers be able to pull off an important win?

Prediction for the NBA match which will take place on December 9. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.

As the regular season progressed, the Los Angeles Lakers' early season success was nothing more than a coincidence. In reality, the Lakers still have a lot of problems, as the team is just starting its journey with a revamped roster and under new head coach J.J. Reddick. The Lakers lost seven games out of the last nine and have fallen to tenth place in the Western Conference standings. It should be noted that the main shortcomings of the Californians are manifested in the defense - the Lakers concede 116.5 points per game on average, ranking eighth from the bottom in this indicator this season.

Before the meeting with Portland, LeBron James and company had a road series of four consecutive games, losing three of them - Minnesota (80:109), Miami (93:134) and Atlanta (132:134 (119:119) in overtime. The Lakers beat only Utah (105:104) during that stretch.

If the Lakers surely can't be satisfied with the recent results - the goal for LeBron James is not just to make the playoffs, but to stay there for as long as possible, then for Portland the championship is in working mode. The team is not solving any tournament problems this season, working primarily on the development of young players. The Trail Blazers are currently 13th in the Western Conference with an 8-13 record and 4.0 wins behind the top-10.

Ahead of their road trip to the Lakers, Portland has three straight losses - at home to Dallas (131:137) and Utah (99:141), and away to the Clippers (105:127).

The Lakers are a much more ambitious project than the Trail Blazers, and with the right attitude, LeBron James' team will win here. All the more reason for the Trail Blazers to lose - otherwise, the Lakers will soon fall out of the Western Conference play-in zone. We bet on the home team to win in an efficient game - both teams have problems in defense in the first part of the championship.