Toronto Raptors vs Los Angeles Lakers Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 01/04/2024, 16:02  by Joseph King | Modified on 01/04/2024 at 19:56 in NBA Predictions

The Toronto Raptors welcome the Los Angeles Lakers to the Scotiabank Arena as the two teams meet on Tuesday evening in the NBA. The Raptors are 12th in the Eastern Conference with a 23-51 record while the Lakers come in at ninth in the West with a record of 42-33.

It’s been a rough season for Toronto who have nothing left to play for as we enter the home stretch of the regular season. The Raptors have been bitten heavily by the injury bug this season and they will enter this contest on Tuesday with no fewer than eight players missing. This includes star player Scottie Barnes, as well as instrumental pieces such as RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl. This has led to management using these last few games as an opportunity to get some of the young players some court time. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the quality of basketball dropping significantly. A 135-120 home loss to the 76ers on Sunday marked the 13th game in a row that the Raptors have lost, ranking as the fourth-longest losing streak in the 2023/24 season.

The Lakers returned to winning ways on Sunday when they took care of the Brooklyn Nets to record a 116-104 victory. LA were spurred on by 39-year-old Lebron James’ 40-point performance, which included tying a career high with nine three pointers (9/10 from deep). It’s been a solid run for LA who have won seven of their last 10 games to go nine games above .500. This puts them just 1.5 games behind the eighth-place Suns and 3.5 games behind the Pelicans for a top-six seed and automatic qualification to the postseason. Unfortunately, it may be too little, too late for Lebron James and company as it is looking more and more likely that they will have to pass through the play-in tournament if they are to partake in this year’s playoffs.