Lakers Win It All – December 5

The NBA’s in-season tournament is nearing its end and tonight, the Los Angeles Lakers will attempt to advance to the semifinals. The Lakers will host Phoenix after winning Group A with a perfect 4-0 record. Los Angeles is only 12-9 on the season, but has shined during the in-season tournament.

LeBron James, who is now 38 years old, has been outstanding in the in-season tourney. He has two 30-points-plus games as the Lakers beat Phoenix, Memphis, Portland, and Utah. LA beat Memphis by 27, Portland by 12, and Utah by 32. Can the Lakers do it again, win three more games and win the in-season tournament? 

Tonight’s Lakers-Suns Clash

Los Angeles heads into tonight’s game at crypto.com Arena as a 1.5-point favorite. The Lakers have beaten the Suns twice already this season. One of those games, of course, was in group play. That game was played in Phoenix. James shot 11-of-17 from the floor and led the Lakers with 32 points. Kevin Durant had a game-high 38 for Phoenix.

While the Lakers are just 12-9 this season, they have won nine of their last 13 games. More importantly, the Lakers have won the last four in a row over Phoenix. The Suns cannot be taken lightly though as they have won eight of their last ten games. Phoenix has still yet to unleash it’s version of the Big Three. Kevin Durant and Devin Booker average 31.0 and 27.9 points per game, respectively, but the team has only seen Bradley Beal play in three games so far. Beal is listed as out tonight due to a back injury.

Bettors looking for an angle on tonight’s game should consider tonight’s total. Your best bet, of course, is checking our members’ area to see how our expert handicappers are picking tonight’s matchup. Robert Jones (18-6, $1140) and Sports Hub Insider (11-4, $740) are the top two NBA handicappers over the last 30 days. It would be worth your while to see if either or both has a pick for tonight’s game.

Keep in mind that 8 of the Suns last 10 games have gone Over the total. Four of the last five Lakers games have gone Over and all five of the Lakers last five home games have gone Over too. In the Suns-Lakers series, the Over is 4-1 in the last five meetings.

The In-Season Tournament

The Suns-Lakers game tonight is the late game, starting at 10:00 p.m. ET. The Knicks will play the Bucks in Milwaukee at 7:30 p.m. ET. Tonight’s winners will advance to the semifinals on Thursday night. The in-season tournament championship game is set for Saturday, Dec. 9, at 8:30 p.m. ET.

You can catch up on all the action with our NBA in-season tournament update. The article will be posted today long before game time so you can stay up to date on all the action in the in-season tournament. Our very own SWJ Sports, one of our expert handicappers, will provide you with an interesting look at the first-ever in-season tournament. Don’t forget, we’ll have picks for all the games available in our database. You simply need a Sports Hub membership to gain access.

It’s Deja Vu All Over Again

Speaking of Robert Jones and Sports Hub Insider, both were in the top 10 on yesterday’s Sports Hub handicapper leaderboard. Sean Kuchman was our No. 2 capper in yesterday’s Daily Report. Guess what? He’s our No. 2 capper in today’s report. In the top spot is the Sports Investors. They hit on all four of their picks yesterday and topped the money board with $400 in winnings.

Let’s check out yesterday’s leaderboard.

• Invest in sports: That’s the approach at Sports Investors and it paid off yesterday. SI nailed a pair of NHL totals, a college basketball pick, and the Bengals +10 in last night’s Monday Night Football matchup. Did you see Tua Tagovailoa on the ManningCast? The dude killed it on the guitar!
• Another runner-up finish: Sean Kuchman went 6-3 on nine picks yesterday. He also had the Bengals last night. The other eight picks were all on the NHL. With a couple of props sprinkled in there Sean managed to win $315. That gives Sean a ridiculous $1055 in winnings over the last three days!
• Madjack: Our friends at MadjackSports posted a 3-0 day and won $300. They also nailed two NHL totals and one college basketball pick. 
• Rest of the top 10: The remaining seven members of yesterday’s top 10 all went 2-0 and each won $200. Of the seven, five are Sports Hub experts. Robert Jones was one of them. Robert is up $862 over the last seven days and $1772 over the last 30. Sports Hub Insider was another. The Insider is also killing it lately with $850 in winnings over the last three days. SWJ Sports, which will provide some outstanding content on the NBA in-season tournament later today, also went 2-0 yesterday.

Lakers, In-Season Tournament Trending

The NBA’s in-season tournament is doing exactly what league commissioner Adam Silver wanted. Most fans don’t really get engaged with the NBA until after football has ended. The in-season tourney has generated a lot of interest and buzz at a time of year when it typically does not.

The tournament has also done wonders for the Lakers. LeBron and company were walking along in mediocrity until they went 4-0 in group play. The Lakers earned the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference in the knockout stage of the tournament. With a win tonight, LA will advance to the semifinals which will be played on Thursday night. 

Let’s see what else is trending:

• Halliburton & Pacers: Somebody should check Tyrese Halliburton’s pulse. The guy is on fire! Last night, Halliburton shot 10-of-18 from the field and scored 26 points to lead the Pacers to a 122-112 victory over Boston. The Pacers lead the NBA in scoring and Halliburton leads Indiana with 26.9 points a game. 
• Tiger: Tiger Woods jumped 430 spots in the world golf rankings after finishing 18th at the Hero Challenge last weekend. While 18th sounds great, there were only 20 golfers in the field. Still, it was enough to move Woods to No. 898 (yep, that number is correct) in the world golf rankings.
• QBs in the portal: What in the absolute heck is going on? Ohio State’s starting quarterback, Kyle McCord, entered the transfer portal yesterday. So did Oklahoma starting QB Dillon Gabriel. It’s crazy! 

• Trevor Lawrence: The Jags starting quarterback suffered an ankle injury late in the fourth quarter of last night’s 34-31 overtime loss to Cincinnati. Jacksonville is now 8-4 and No. 4 in the AFC playoff race. X-rays were negative on Lawrence’s ankle. If he can’t go when the Jags play at Cleveland next week, it will be up to C.J. Beathard to lead the offense.

Lakers-Suns Heads Up Tonight’s Schedule

Once again, we find ourselves with a Tuesday night and no MAC-tion. We’ll have to wait until next college football season. In its place, we do get the NBA in-season tournament. Two games tonight with the winners advancing to Thursday’s semifinals. The Knicks and Bucks play the early game. The Lakers and Suns will follow.

Let’s look at today’s schedule.

1. NHL schedule: Eight games are on the Tuesday NHL schedule. Are there any good totals bets worth making? Last night, our expert cappers hit on a number of NHL totals. Check the members’ area for NHL picks. For the record, Knup Sports has hit over 61 percent of its NHL picks over the last 30 days and has winnings of $1355.
2. NBA in-season tournament: Just in case you forgot in the last 30 seconds. Knicks-Bucks at 7:30 p.m and Suns-Lakers at 10:00 p.m. Both games will be broadcasted by TNT.

3. Soccer: The Premier League tops the daily soccer schedule today. Wolverton plays Burnley and Luton Town takes on Arsenal. There is plenty of soccer on the schedule today. Most matches are in lower-tier leagues around the world. 
4. College basketball: No. 1 Purdue won last night and now 12 teams ranked in the AP Top 25 play tonight. Tonight’s games include two matchups of ranked opponents. No. 11 FAU plays No. 20 Illinois at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic. No. 5 UConn takes on No. 9 North Carolina in the second game at MSG.

It may look like a light schedule, but factor in all of your props, specials, and even live bets and the betting boards for tonight are huge. If you need help finding tonight’s best bets, stay right here. Sports Hub has the content, betting tips, and the best picks from the top handicappers in the world. We’ve got your back through every sports season. Sign up for a free Sports Hub account if you don’t have one and keep winning! See you back here tomorrow.