The Los Angeles Lakers look for their sixth-straight win tonight.
The pregame narrative: I’m taking an alternate spread to be safe but expect the Lakers to comfortably beat the Utah Jazz. Prop picks on LeBron James and Lauri Markkanen round out this +370 parlay.
Check out my Jazz vs. Lakers same-game parlay predictions for Nov. 19.
Jazz vs. Lakers predictions
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Parlay: Lakers -7.5 + James over 9.5 assists + Markkanen over 18.5 points (+370)
Lakers -7.5 (-167): The Lakers are rolling right now so I’m comfortable backing this lofty alternate spread.
After all, they play at home against a struggling Jazz team.
- Los Angeles is 6-0 at home (5-1 ATS)
- Utah has a 109.3 offensive rating (fourth worst) and 120.8 defensive rating (second worst)
- The Jazz are last in the Western Conference (3-10 record)
The Lakers offence is cooking under new coach JJ Reddick, scoring 116.8 points per game with a 47.8% field goal percentage. Both of those stats rank inside the top seven in the NBA.
Additionally, when the Jazz lose, it’s by a lot. Eight of their 10 losses have come by eight or more points.
SGP legs
James over 9.5 assists (-157): LeBron is truly remarkable. Even as the oldest player in the NBA, he is putting up crazy stats.
- He is averaging 23.3 points, 9.2 assists and 8.6 rebounds
- Over the past eight games, he is averaging 10.9 assists
- James recorded double-digit assists in six of those contests
With the Jazz being one of the worst defensive teams in the association, LeBron should have an easy time breaking down the defence which will lead to assist opportunities.
Markkanen over 18.5 points (-150): The first two legs side with the Lakers but I found good reason to include Markkanen in this SGP.
The Finnish all-star is having a down year but a turnaround is imminent. He’s averaging 17.3 points currently but is coming off back-to-back seasons of averaging 23-plus.
And Los Angeles provides a nice matchup.
- The Lakers allow the seventh-most points per game to power forwards (24.95)
- They have the eighth-worst defensive rating (117.6)
It’s a bit of a weird case as Markkanen is shooting a career-high 45.6% from 3-point range. For some reason, he just isn’t taking very many shots.
He’s only taken 28 combined over the past three games but made 16 of them (57.1%).
Markkanen is at the top of the list for guys who should be traded this season so Utah should want to get him more involved to raise his otherwise diminishing value.
Picks made at 11:01 a.m. on 11/19/24.
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Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.