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Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals just over two months ago in the Orlando bubble, and the shortest offseason in league history ends Tuesday night when the 2020-21 season begins. with two games: Golden State Warriors at Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Clippers at Los Angeles Lakers. Both will be shown on TNT.
Expectations are soaring for the Nets with world player and future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant joining Kyrie Irving to form one of the NBA’s best 1-2 hits. However, Durant is coming off one of the most serious injuries an athlete can sustain, a torn Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals against Toronto when Durant was a member of … the Warriors.
Brooklyn signed Durant to a great free agent contract before last season even though he knew KD would not play at all in the 2019-20 season. Irving, meanwhile, was limited to just 20 games last season due to his own injury problems. Tuesday will also be the NBA head coaching debut of one of the league’s best point guards, two-time MVP Steve Nash.
Golden State finished with the worst record in the NBA last year without Durant and Klay Thompson and with Steph Curry limited to five games due to injury. The Dubs were hoping to return to contention this season with a healthy Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green (he’s beaten and may miss Tuesday), Andrew Wiggins and the player they took No. 2 overall in the draft (James Wiseman), But Thompson suffered a season-ending injury on draft morning. Therefore, the Warriors are the 7-point losers for this game. Golden State is 5-1 ATS in its last six as a road dog.
The Lakers will raise another championship banner and players will earn their title rings ahead of Los Angeles’ cup battle with the Lakers as “local” 3-point favorites over their Staples Center co-tenants. Of course, both LA teams have dynamic duos: LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the Lakers and Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on the Clippers.
Both teams made some intriguing moves in the offseason, including 2019-20 NBA Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell, leaving the Clippers in free agency for the Lakers. The Clippers replaced him with Serge Ibaka and traded him for Detroit Pistons sniper Luke Kennard. Tuesday will be the Clippers’ head coaching debut for Ty Lue, who spent last season as an assistant under the fired Doc Rivers. The Clippers have covered seven straight games as the “road” team in this series.
