Tuesday’s first game is traditional opening night fare. The Boston Celtics will get their rings and face the team that made the flashiest moves of the offseason: the New York Knicks. The follow-up is something different. The defending Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks are at home, and playing in their place are some of the conference’s biggest stars.
In one corner we have LeBron James, the now-22-year veteran and face of the sport leading his Los Angeles Lakers into what will likely be one of his final professional seasons (and the first in which he shares a roster with his son). In the other corner we have Anthony Edwards, the ascending star poised to eventually replace James as one of the league’s cornerstones. His Minnesota Timberwolves were on the other end of the mega trade that made the Knicks such a compelling opening night choice. Karl-Anthony Towns is now in New York. Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo are Timberwolves.
So what sports betting picks are the best on the board for Tuesday’s opener? Here are our best bets for Tuesday’s Western Conference clash.
Lakers vs. Timberwolves Game Info
Time: 10 p.m. ET | Date: Tuesday, Oct. 22
Location: Crypto.com Arena — Los Angeles
TV channel: TNT | Live stream: Max
Best bets:
All odds via FanDuel sportsbook. Check out the latest FanDuel promo code to take action on NBA season openers.
James hasn’t won on opening night as a Laker once. He’s lost all six tries by a combined 59 points, roughly 10 per game. For whatever reason, the Lakers have been quite bad on symbolically important regular-season nights during the James era. They lost when he broke the scoring record. They lost their first game after Kobe Bryant’s death. They’re 2-4 on Christmases. There’s not a logical explanation for any of this, but the Lakers have just tended to struggle in big regular-season games over the past six seasons. Yet they are favored at home against a team that won nine more games than they did a season ago? Don’t overthink this one. The pick: Timberwolves +1
The Timberwolves had the NBA’s best defense last season, and while Towns may be gone, the core pieces of it remain. However, their spacing on offense has been compromised with Randle replacing Towns. That’s going to make it much harder for them to score at the rim. You know who’s waiting at the rim for the Lakers? Anthony Davis. Minnesota is still figuring out how to score in a post-Towns world, while the Lakers will have their hands full against Minnesota’s top-ranked defense. This will be a low-scoring game. The pick: Under 222
Minnesota is going to realize as this game progresses that their only way to properly space the floor will be to play Donte DiVincenzo as much as possible. He won’t start, but the Timberwolves will see the difference in their offense with and without him on the floor and eventually lean into giving him more minutes. I’m expecting him to close this game. With that in mind, 12.5 points seems a tad low. The pick: DiVincenzo Over 12.5 Points
