Nets vs Lakers Pick, Odds Tonight

Here's everything you need to know about Nets vs. Lakers on Friday, Jan. 19 — our expert prediction and betting picks for today.

The Brooklyn Nets have won just two games since Christmas and will now head to L.A. looking for a win over a Lakers team which appears to be figuring some things out. Will Brooklyn be able to ride its offense to a cover here, or will we see more of the same?

Let's get to our Nets vs. Lakers pick.

Brooklyn has often relied upon its offense to win games, and it's not as if things haven't worked from time to time, but the outlook has grown increasingly grim of late. The Nets are just 27th in efficiency on that end over the last 10 games, and a big reason has been their inability to knock down outside shots.

This is a team which is going to live and die by the 3-pointer. The Nets now rank seventh among all teams in 3-point frequency according to Cleaning the Glass, though they've knocked down a pedestrian 36.9% of their looks. There's certainly a chance the Nets could find some success here in L.A. given the matchup, and with a slight 2.1 point bump in 3-point shooting on the road versus at home.

Making matters a little more difficult here for the visitors will be the absence of Day'Ron Sharpe, who has been out for the last few games with a knee issue and has once again been ruled out. On the bright side Mikal Bridges, who is listed on Friday's injury report, will suit up for this one.

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For the last few seasons, we really haven't had many concerns about the Lakers defensively. After all, they've been incredibly limited on the offensive end due to their roster construction and as a result they've built their team around slow-paced, defensive-forward basketball.

Well, the Lakers continue to struggle defending the perimeter. They now find themselves ranked 19th in total 3-point defense according to Cleaning the Glass, and over the course of the last 10 games things have grown even more troublesome with 39.8% of opponents' looks falling from outside — one of the seven worst marks in the NBA.

While their counterparts here have been equally as bad at defending around the arc, that shouldn't really matter here given L.A.'s lack of shooting. What's concerning is the fact that the Lakers — who do all their scoring inside — will be up against a Nets team which ranks eighth in rim defense this season.

The Lakers are in a spot of bother here, up against a team which really only has one strength — and that is protecting the rim. On the other side of the coin, no team poses a bigger threat to L.A. than one which launches from outside, and the Nets are plenty capable of hitting outside shots despite their recent struggles.

Given the Nets' shooting proficiency on the road, I do think this game could get a little interesting for the Lakers. They're just 11-15 against the spread this season as favorites, and they haven't exactly blown teams away in these spots with an average margin of victory of 3.7 points.

I'm going to hold my nose and take the Nets here, believing that shots will eventually start to fall for them — and there is no better team to do that against than the Lakers.

Pick: Nets +7 (-108)

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