Lakers vs Nets Odds, Spread and Picks

• The Brooklyn Nets are 10.5-point home favorites over the LA Lakers on Saturday (April 10th, 8:30 pm ET)
• Brooklyn has won nine straight at home
• See below for analysis, odds and a betting prediction

The top-two favorites to win the NBA Championship square off on Saturday (April 10, 8:30 pm ET) in Brooklyn, although both the Nets and LA Lakers will be missing significant pieces. LeBron James and Anthony Davis continue to be sidelined for the defending champs, while James Harden is expected to miss another 7-10 days for Brooklyn.

Lakers vs Nets Odds

Odds as of April 9th.

With the Lakers’ top-two scorers down, the Nets opened up as a sizeable 10.5-point home favorite. Brooklyn may be without the Beard, but Kevin Durant is expected to play for the second time since returning from a strained hamstring that forced him to miss 23 games.

Nets Pound Pelicans

Durant was in the lineup on Wednesday, helping Brooklyn smash New Orleans 139-111. KD was a perfect 5-of-5 off the bench in his return, splashing 17 points and grabbing 7 boards.

Kevin Durant in only 18:56 minutes of playing time:

17 points
7 rebounds
5 assists
5/5 FG
2/2 3PT
5/5 FT

Game is too easy for him pic.twitter.com/CAJmP4Vi0B

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 8, 2021

Kyrie Irving led the Nets with 24 points, while recently signed LaMarcus Aldridge added 22. Brooklyn won for the ninth straight time at home, and did so thanks to a phenomenal shooting performance. The Nets shot 55% from the field, and buried 19 triples.

Highlight after highlight, night after night.

📼 @KyrieIrving 📼 pic.twitter.com/sjSDNSLCFs

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) April 8, 2021

Brooklyn had 14 more assists, 10 more fast-break points and 6 more blocks than the Pelicans, and they did so with the services of Harden. The Beard suffered a hamstring injury of his own on Monday, but even without him the Nets still racked up their 10th 130+ point performance.

Brooklyn ranks first in the NBA in points per game, field goal percentage and second in three-point efficiency, and should have little trouble on Saturday with the undermanned Lakers.

LA Loses Again

The defending champs fell to 4-6 without James on Thursday, dropping a 110-104 decision in Miami. LeBron is likely out until end of the month, while the team is hopeful AD can return by next week. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope led the way against the Heat with 28, while Andre Drummond added 15 points and 12 rebounds.

New York, here we come. #LakeShowLiftoff pic.twitter.com/vX982Qwxlu

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) April 9, 2021

LA shot just 44.3% from the field, and 34.3% from beyond the arc, while committing 22 turnovers. Defensively, they had no answer for Jimmy Butler, who splashed 28, and after seeing how efficient he was it’s hard to imagine them slowing down Kyrie, KD and the rest of the high-powered Nets.

The Lakers are now 0-6 versus playoff teams during James’ absence, and their four victories without the King came against four of the eight worst teams in the NBA.

Brooklyn Blasts LA

To make matters worse, the Lakers offense has struggled without James. LA is averaging only 101.4 points in the 10 games James has missed, and they’re going to need to score a lot more than that to keep pace with Brooklyn.

The Nets have been crushing teams at home recently, posting three double-digit wins in their last four outings at the Barclays Center. They’re 15-7 ATS against non-conference opponents, and beat King James and the Lakers by 11 in their lone meeting this season. James poured in 32 points, and added 8 rebounds and 7 assists in that meeting, and was the only reason the game was even remotely close. Without him and AD, LA will struggle mightily, just like they did the last time they were a double-digit ‘dog. That of course was last Sunday versus the LA Clippers, a matchup they lost by 18.

Pick: Brooklyn Nets -10.5 (-110)

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