NBA prediction: Los Angeles Lakers vs Golden State Warriors

The Los Angeles Lakers have been cementing their spot as the best team in the league this season with an 11-3 record and coming off of a blowout win over the New Orleans Pelicans in their last game out. But they now face off against a team that struck fear across the league a few seasons ago in the Golden State Warriors, who were unable to pull away with a victory in their last game against the Denver Nuggets.

Will Steph Curry stuff the scoring column and help his team create an upset victory or will the Lakers height prove to be too much?

Los Angeles Lakers @ Golden State Warriors

The Lakers are just so dominant in every phase of basketball due to the insane level of talent that they have on their roster.

The combination of Anthony Davis and LeBron James has proven to be unstoppable now heading into their second season together with their mix of height and strength devastating opposing teams. But their team isn’t just those two players, they have tremendous bench depth that is able to keep them afloat in games that one of those star players may not take part in.

They have a few new additions in Dennis Schroeder[1] and Montrezl Harrell, who each finished as finalists for sixth man of the year last season and they have gotten breakout production out of their young guard Talen Horton Tucker. Schroeder has arguably been the team’s biggest pickup though, averaging just over 14 points a game in this young NBA season.

This team is stacked in every phase of the ball and the Warriors are going to struggle to keep up. But Golden State still has one of the most dangerous players in basketball history in Steph Curry, as he can explode on any given night as featured by his 63-point game earlier this season against the Portland Trail Blazers. But Curry hasn’t had much help so far this season outside of rookie James Wiseman and Draymond Green. Their new additions haven’t shot the ball very well with Kelly Oubre being 1/40 on three-point attempts to start the season before banking them in more consistently the past week or two.

Wiseman should be able to contend with Davis for a little bit, but he is just a rookie in this league and should not be able to clamp down on Davis or LeBron in the paint, with the superstar duo most likely going to try and take it to him early and often in this ball game.

Prediction: Lakers Spread -8.5 points

The Warriors have a very good shot at winning this game if one of James or Davis has a poor outing. Their bench depth is good, but the Warriors should be able to take full advantage of a bad game by one of those stars behind Curry and his outstanding shooting abilities even in double teams.

However, the Lakers are just the far better team in every area and should be able to dominate this inconsistent Warriors team that badly misses Klay Thompson right about now. The spread has the Lakers listed as -8.5-point favorites in this matchup, I would take the Lakers here as LeBron isn’t going to let his team lose in a close game.