Rockets vs Lakers Prediction, Picks Today | Saturday, Dec. 2

Here's everything you need to know about Rockets vs. Lakers on Saturday, Dec. 2 — our expert prediction and betting picks for today.

The Los Angeles Lakers have had a very tough time beating the Houston Rockets this season, and that's not exactly what you want to hear if you're a team that has lost three of five heading into the weekend.

Can L.A. find a way through the upstart Rockets on Saturday, or will the song remain the same for these two teams?

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

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Pick: Lakers -4.5

The Rockets have fallen on tough times lately. They enter this one off of back-to-back losses to the Mavericks and Nuggets which, while against good competition, didn't feature their best performances. While they've finally picked it up a bit on the offensive end of the floor, Houston's trustworthy defense has relented against Dallas and Denver, two teams which had plenty of success from long range against its backcourt.

That's a bit problematic, considering the Rockets sit atop the league in three-point defense according to Cleaning the Glass. Houston ranks down at 18th when it comes to defense at the rim, which presents a great matchup here for the Lakers. If Houston continues to be generous in giving up open looks from outside, that could spell disaster once more for this defense.

The Rockets were able to post a blistering 129.3 offensive rating the first go around against L.A., but next time around they were absolutely stymied by one of the most talented defenses in the game, and one which has just continued to get better over the last two weeks.

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The Lakers have seldom won games where they've been limited on the offensive end, and that's just what the Rockets do to opponents. The good news here is that they were able to do so against Houston last time around, and the loss to Houston was a game in which this team didn't have Anthony Davis to combat Alperun Sengun down low.

As noted above, too, the Lakers have done an excellent job on defense over the last two weeks, briefly cracking the league's top 10 in efficiency before falling backwards a bit thanks to some losses against elite offensive groups like the Thunder and Sixers. The Rockets are in the bottom half of the NBA on that side of the floor and should present the Lakers an opportunity to see some positive regression to the mean.

The Lakers' path to victory is normally one that's pretty straightforward. They will suffocate teams on the perimeter, defending the three with excellence, and they will try to score around the rim with their length. They're first in field goal percentage at the rim and seventh in shot frequency from that range, so it's easy to know what's coming.

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Houston is just 18th in field goal defense at the rim this year, and while it does rank first against the three it's certainly relented a bit in recent games. The Rockets have played the Lakers incredibly well this year, but it's just a two-game sample and they've yet to beat them with Davis on the floor.

I'm terrified for Houston's frontcourt here against James and Davis. The pair combined for 64 points in a win over the Rockets a couple of weeks back, and the team was still unable to win despite an incredibly efficient night from Sengun and 24 points from the volatile Dillon Brooks. This profiles as a bad matchup for the Rockets, and with their defense sputtering and their offense still unable to get much going on a consistent basis, I think the Lakers should run away with this one.

Pick: Lakers -4.5