Lakers vs Thunder Pick, Prediction Tonight

Here's everything you need to know about Lakers vs. Thunder on Thursday, Nov. 30 — our expert betting picks and prediction for today.

The Thunder's run appeared that it would never end. This team opened the year at 11-4 and took a six-game winning streak into Philly earlier in the week only to begin a two-game losing streak with back-to-back heartbreaking losses.

Now, a struggling Lakers team awaits, but it's one that's fresh off a dismantling of the lowly Pistons. Can L.A. build some momentum and put a scare into OKC?

Let's get to our Lakers vs. Thunder pick and prediction.

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The Lakers enter the day with a respectable 11-8 record and by no means are out of the hunt for the top six in the West. With that said, it's hard to find too many quality wins on their resume.

They've twice beaten the Suns, but Devin Booker didn't play in either contest. They took out the Cavaliers, which would seem to be their best win, given their win over the Magic was incredibly early in the season before Orlando seemed to kick it into gear.

So, L.A. is caught somewhere in the middle of the NBA when it comes to quality. This is supported by its 12th-place standing in Net Rating entering Thursday and its incredibly volatile form over the first two months of the season which have seen the team alternate between dreadful play and inspired basketball.

With that said, the Lakers have begun to establish their defense once again in recent weeks. They now find themselves in the top 10 of the league in that regard, and they rank seventh in points per play allowed in the halfcourt, according to Cleaning the Glass.

They've been particularly strong against the mid-range jumper, which doesn't always mean a lot given most teams (aside from Phoenix) don't really specialize in that area, but their numbers at the rim are respectable as well.

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The identity of the Thunder is similarly easy to figure out. They come into this game ranked eighth in Pace, running out in transition at an above-average 15.1% clip, and while they're not shooting an inordinate number of threes, they sit atop the league in three-point shooting at 40.9%, according to Cleaning the Glass.

Oklahoma City's defense has also been exceptional to start the season, ranked fifth in efficiency with 109.4 points allowed per 100 possessions. This team has done a great job defending down low with a 63.9% field goal percentage allowed at the rim, which is firmly inside the top-10 of the NBA, and it's also second in transition defense.

The only negative thing we can really say about the Thunder is that they've struggled on the glass, sitting in the bottom five of the NBA by collecting just 47.2% of available rebounds.

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Neither of these two teams can claim to be great rebounding teams, but the Lakers at least have been average team in that area. What they can claim, however, is to be excellent defensive groups which should match up quite well with each other.

Oklahoma City and L.A. both like to score inside the arc when you consider they frequently fire from mid-range and around the rim, and both have done an excellent job of defending inside and also in transition, where both teams love to play.

This should be a fast-paced game given both teams love to play in transition and play games with a lot of possessions, but I'm not sure that will equate to a shootout here. The stronger offense, which is the Thunder's, should have a tough time against this L.A. defense and will have their possessions limited against a team that should be able to out-rebound them with ease.

With that, I think the under is very much in play here and I'd play it all the way down to 230. I have some interest in the Lakers spread as well, but I'm fearful of how this offense-averse team will score against such a great defense.

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