All Lakers Expert Predictions For First Matchup vs Clippers in James Harden Era

The first Battle of LA this season!

Tonight, your Los Angeles Lakers will square off against their Crypto.com Arena neighbors (for one more year, anyway), the ancient Los Angeles Clippers. In case you've been living under a rock since Monday, the Clips just added 34-year-old ball-dominant ex-superstar James Harden to a roster loaded with three other ball-dominant ex-superstars all also north of 32. 

But Harden won't be playing just yet, and given the combination of that and the fact that the Clippers jettisoned three other rotation players (plus Marcus Morris) out of town, the Lakers will enjoy a major advantage in sheer available bodies, despite their own injury problems (Jarred Vanderbilt and Jalen Hood-Schifino are out, Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent are doubtful).

The Lakers should win tonight's Battle of LA. But will they? Our panel of experts weighs in below:

1. Will Russell Westbrook, in his last hurrah against his old team before James Harden enters the chat, go for a triple-double?

Alex: You better believe Brodie will go full-bore in his first rematch with the Lakers this season. That said, he's 35 now, and has only even logged a double-double once in four tries (an 11-point, 13-assist game against the Portland Trail Blazers last week). He's averaging 13 points on .561/.333/.400 shooting splits (yeah, he's only making 40% of his free throws, but the field goal and three-point numbers are pretty good for him!), seven rebounds and 6.8 assists. All those numbers will invariably dip with Harden now in the mix, whether or not Russ is benched.

Noah: We're definitely about to watch Russell Westbrook try to do it all, as he's already spoken out about how relieved he was when the Lakers traded him. However, I see Westbrook's trying to do too much becoming one of his worse games shooting. I do think he'll rack up the rebounds and assists, but he'll fall short of a triple double, and have a horrible shooting night against his former squad.

2. Will Anthony Davis take it personally that the Lakers now have worse odds to make the Finals than the Clippers, and notch his fourth straight double-double?

Noah: Anthony Davis needs to dominate tonight if the Lakers want to win. It'll be up to him to dominate the boards against Ivica Zubac, and continue his aggressive ways on the offense side of things. I expect AD to get his fourth straight double-double tonight.

Alex: He better. Davis represented the greatest mismatch advantage in the game tonight. To ensure a Lakers win, LA's most important player needs to feast on the Clips' center tandem of Ivica Zubac (who is about to be waived from my fantasy basketball lineup if he doesn't start getting more rebounds) and Mason Plumlee, yet another guy on the roster who's 32 or older (Plumlee is 33). Davis, who's averaging a career-high 13.8 rebounds per game (although, to be fair, it's insanely early and that number will probably be closer to his career average of 10.4 rebounds), has logged double-doubles against the Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, and Orlando Magic in consecutive games. He "only" grabbed eight rebounds on opening night against the Nuggets. And Zubac ain't Nikola Jokic.

3. Where will Darvin Ham hide LeBron James on defense?

Alex: The Clippers will start a formidable frontcourt of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Ivica Zubac. James, who's generally been playing power forward this year (to be fair, he's listed at 6'9" and 250 pounds, and could easily have 20 extra unaccounted-for pounds of muscle), may see some time against Zubac, with Davis sticking on George, and Taurean Prince covering Leonard. I think George is the most dangerous option for the Clippers, and even though he'll be jumping at the four, I assume Darvin Ham will try to avoid making James chase PG-13 around too much.

Noah: James is likely going be tasked with a difficult assignment as both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are suiting up. I like Alex's idea of maybe throwing James on Ivica Zubac, but that could lead to a huge paint advantage if AD is forced to be out on the perimeter. The Lakers are really going to need LeBron to put in the effort on both sides of the floor tonight.

4. Can the Lakers cover tonight's -4.5 spread (i.e. will they win by 5 or more points)?

Noah: The Lakers have no business losing this game considering the Clippers are on the second night of a back-to-back and the Lakers are coming off a rest day. However, we know this team has struggled to beat their LA counterpart over the last few years, so I definitely don't feel good about them covering a 4.5 point spread — especially with PG and Kawhi playing. The Lakers should win, but I have no confidence in saying they'll win by more than five — Laker fans should just be happy if they win at all and finally end the 11-game losing streak to the Clippers.

Alex: The Lakers are better-rested, given that the Clippers are playing on the second night of a back-to-back set of games. The Clips blew out the Orlando Magic 118-102 on Tuesday. The Lakers, of course, handled Orlando on Monday in a closer contest, 106-103. Both their victories have been single-digit nail-biters. They'll win, but I'm on the fence about them covering. I'll take the under, but I don't feel good about it.

Are you following us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LA Sports Report yet? Join the conversation as we discuss the latest Lakers news and rumors with fans like you!