Indisputably, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics are the two most-decorated franchises in NBA history. The Celtics have 18 NBA titles, and the Lakers have 17 titles and the coveted NBA Cup Trophy.
This season, the Celtics have backed up their 2023-24 NBA championship with a 31-13 start to the season, and are still the betting favorites to win the 2024-25 title at DraftKings Sportsbook. Meanwhile, the Lakers have had an up-and-down season, held back by a slew of injuries and a mediocre defense, but they’re still in the playoff picture in the Western Conference, sitting fifth at 23-18.
At DraftKings Sportsbook, Boston is a five-point favorite (-192 on the Moneyline), with the point total set to 218.5. Meanwhile, Los Angeles is +160 on the Moneyline.
Betting Splits
The public is fairly confident that, despite a recent rough run of form, the Celtics will turn it around against the Lakers. Boston has attracted 74% of all bets and 85% of the handle, both of which are significantly higher than the 63% chance of victory that the odds would imply. The Celtics were uninspiring last night at the Intuit Dome, nearly losing to an LA Clippers team missing its entire starting five, but they recently got welcome injury news, as both Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday are expected to play against Los Angeles after missing last night’s game. Meanwhile, the Lakers have won three of their last four games and are coming off their biggest win of the season, although it came against the lowly Washington Wizards.
Boston has also attracted a majority of the spread, with 65% of bets and 62% of the handle being placed on the Celtics to win by more than five points. So far this season, Boston has covered the spread in just 17 of their 44 games, the second-worst against-the-spread performance in the Eastern Conference, and Los Angeles is 20-21 against the spread, the ninth-best in the West. Although this is the first Lakers-Celtics game in 2024-25, they split their two matchups last year, both straight-up and against the spread.
Bettors are also expecting the game to be relatively high-scoring, with a huge majority (82%) of the bets being placed on the game to go over 218.5 points. This season, Boston has had the league’s third-best offense, scoring 118.8 points per 100 possessions, while Los Angeles (112.8 offensive rating) has been about league-average. Additionally, the Celtics have had its fifth-best defense and the Lakers the eighth-worst. The over is 19-25 in Boston’s games and 19-22 in Los Angeles games, although it has hit in three of the Lakers’ last five games. Only two of the Celtics’ last five have gone over, and only 10 out of 21 at Crypto.com Arena, trends that are clearly enticing big-money bettors. The under has attracted 39% of the handle despite accounting for only 18% of the bets.
Most Popular Player Props
Here are the top five most-bet player props for Wednesday’s game:
- Kristaps Porzingis 27+ Points + Rebounds + Assists (-140)
- LeBron James Triple-Double (+700)
- Kristaps Porzingis 25+ Points + Rebounds + Assists (-180)
- Kristaps Porzingis 1st Points Scorer (+500)
- Derrick White O3.5 Assists (-115)
Clearly, bettors are in love with Porzingis, the seven-foot-two Latvian whose acquisition was among the biggest factors in Boston’s title charge. The public is backing him to have at least an average all-around performance, given that he has averaged 27.4 P/R/A so far this season. In 19 games this season, he has had at least 25 P/R/A in 14 different games, recording 27 P/R/A or more in each of them. He’s a good bet to do so again against Los Angeles, which has allowed the 14th-most points, 18th-most rebounds, and seventh-most assists per game to opposing players this season.
Porzingis has also attracted a lot of bets to score the first points of the game, which he’s already done six times this season. He ranks third on the team with a 24.8% usage rate in the first quarter, behind Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
The public is also backing White to record four or more assists, which he’s done in 25 of his 38 games, including each of the last two. He ranks third on the Celtics in assists, averaging 4.1 per contest.
The one Los Angeles player who has attracted bets is James, by far the greatest 40-year-old in league history and arguably the most talented all-around player ever, as only James and Luka Dončić have averaged 25 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists for their career. James’ 121 triple-doubles are the fifth-most in NBA history, and he has led the league in the category four times. This season, he has posted nine triple-doubles, second only to Nikola Jokić’s 19, and on Tuesday, he became the second 40-year-old ever to record a triple-double, dropping 21 points, 10 rebounds, and 13 assists on Washington. He’ll have a tough task against Boston, though; the Celtics have allowed the sixth-fewest points, 18th-fewest rebounds, and fifth-fewest assists per game this season.
