{"id":388127,"date":"2025-12-24T11:41:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T16:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=388127"},"modified":"2025-12-24T11:41:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T16:41:57","slug":"rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockets vs. Lakers Christmas Day SGP predictions: Back Durant and Doncic in +265 wager"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Los Angeles Lakers host the Houston Rockets for a Christmas Day game at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The pregame narrative<\/strong>: Luka Doncic is expected to return after missing Tuesday&#8217;s game with a leg contusion. Still, the Lakers are a slight home underdog against a Rockets team with a 9-8 road record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out my Rockets vs. Lakers SGP predictions for Dec. 25, featuring Doncic and Kevin Durant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Join NorthStar Bets to start betting on the NBA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rockets vs. Lakers predictions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Parlay: Lakers +8.5 | Doncic over 8.5 assists | Durant 2+ threes (+265)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Lakers +8.5 <\/strong>(-278)<\/strong>: Houston is far from the hottest team in basketball right now, so I still feel comfortable backing L.A. on this alt spread at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lakers have had a tough few weeks, going 4-4 in their last eight. But seven of those games were on the road, and a few were without either Austin Reaves or Doncic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>JJ Redick <em>should <\/em>have his full arsenal available at Crypto, where the Lakers have thrived this year, ranking 13th in net rating and fifth in offensive rating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Bet on NBA futures at NorthStar Bets<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for the Rockets, they&#8217;ve been having their own problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Houston is 2-5 in its last seven games and is wrapping up a six-game road trip. I expect mental fatigue to set in for the road team, and for the Lakers to come out swinging in front of their home fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"cacheembed:122390\">Embed: #122390<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NBA SGP legs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>Doncic over 8.5 assists<\/strong><\/strong> (<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>-105):<\/strong> A well-rested Doncic should spell trouble for Houston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doncic is leading the NBA in scoring (34.1\/game) while ranking fourth in assists (8.8\/game). He&#8217;s played six games with three-plus days of rest, and those averages, along with his playing time, see a notable uptick:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>37.4 PPG<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>9.0 APG<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>39.4 MPG<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Don&#8217;t miss out \u2014 back Durant and Doncic on Christmas Day<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Houston, by and large, is one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. But it has really struggled lately, giving up a whopping 123.0 PPG in its last five (when it has gone 1-4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For context, that would place the Rockets&#8217; defence 27th in the NBA on a season-long basis, right behind the New Orleans Pelicans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong><strong>Durant 2+ threes<\/strong><\/strong> (<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>-240):<\/strong> Durant is shooting the lights out from beyond the arc in December, averaging 2.4 makes per game on 49.0% shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The future Hall of Famer has generally been reliable against this line in the later stages of his career, averaging 2.0+ threes per game in each of the last six seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>KD has cleared this line in eight of his last 11 games, and gets a dream matchup to keep cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Lakers have the worst 3-point defence in the NBA (38.5%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Rockets vs. Lakers predictions made at 10:34 a.m. on Dec. 24, 2025. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"acq_only\"><strong>-&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNjY1NzMyJnA9MzExMjU%3D\">Sign up to NorthStar Bets today<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Lakers host the Houston Rockets for a Christmas Day game at Crypto.com Arena. The pregame narrative: Luka Doncic is expected to return after missing Tuesday&#8217;s game with a leg contusion. Still, the Lakers are a slight home underdog against a Rockets team with a 9-8 road record. Check out my Rockets vs. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":388139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-388127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-nba"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rockets vs. Lakers predictions: SGP picks Dec. 25 | The Boost<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our Rockets vs. Lakers SGP predictions for Christmas Day. NBA betting odds, same-game parlay for Thursday&#039;s game in Los Angeles.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rockets vs. Lakers predictions: SGP picks Dec. 25 | The Boost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Check out our Rockets vs. Lakers SGP predictions for Christmas Day. NBA betting odds, same-game parlay for Thursday&#039;s game in Los Angeles.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Boost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-24T16:41:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-24T16:41:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2025\/12\/Durant-Doncic.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Avery Perri\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AveryPerri\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Avery Perri\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025\/\",\"name\":\"Rockets vs. Lakers predictions: SGP picks Dec. 25 | The Boost\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-24T16:41:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-24T16:41:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/fbc93da056637fd792d24b930d5cda31\"},\"description\":\"Check out our Rockets vs. Lakers SGP predictions for Christmas Day. NBA betting odds, same-game parlay for Thursday's game in Los Angeles.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/\",\"name\":\"The Boost\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/fbc93da056637fd792d24b930d5cda31\",\"name\":\"Avery Perri\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2024\/11\/IMG_7771.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2024\/11\/IMG_7771.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Avery Perri\"},\"description\":\"Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf \u2014 mainly because it\u2019s easier than actually playing \u2014 but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/home\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AveryPerri\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/author\/averyjperrigmail-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rockets vs. Lakers predictions: SGP picks Dec. 25 | The Boost","description":"Check out our Rockets vs. Lakers SGP predictions for Christmas Day. NBA betting odds, same-game parlay for Thursday's game in Los Angeles.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rockets vs. Lakers predictions: SGP picks Dec. 25 | The Boost","og_description":"Check out our Rockets vs. Lakers SGP predictions for Christmas Day. NBA betting odds, same-game parlay for Thursday's game in Los Angeles.","og_url":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025\/","og_site_name":"The Boost","article_published_time":"2025-12-24T16:41:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-24T16:41:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2025\/12\/Durant-Doncic.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Avery Perri","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AveryPerri","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Avery Perri","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025\/","name":"Rockets vs. Lakers predictions: SGP picks Dec. 25 | The Boost","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-12-24T16:41:56+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-24T16:41:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/fbc93da056637fd792d24b930d5cda31"},"description":"Check out our Rockets vs. Lakers SGP predictions for Christmas Day. NBA betting odds, same-game parlay for Thursday's game in Los Angeles.","inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/rockets-vs-lakers-sgp-predictions-december-25-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/","name":"The Boost","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/fbc93da056637fd792d24b930d5cda31","name":"Avery Perri","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2024\/11\/IMG_7771.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2024\/11\/IMG_7771.jpg","caption":"Avery Perri"},"description":"Avery joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2022 before stepping into a full-time role soon after. He loves betting on and analyzing golf \u2014 mainly because it\u2019s easier than actually playing \u2014 but is a fan of all sports, from the NFL to the UFC.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/home","https:\/\/twitter.com\/AveryPerri"],"url":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/author\/averyjperrigmail-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388127"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":388150,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388127\/revisions\/388150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}