Los Angeles Lakers vs. Golden State Warriors Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 2/12/2022

Time: 8:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Chase Center, San Francisco, CA

Where to watch: ABC

DraftKings: Warriors -7

WynnBet: Warriors -7

Caesars: NL

Lakers: 26-30

Warriors: 41-15

Lakers: lost three of four

Warriors: 3-2 in last five

It's kind of crazy that we are sitting here going into a Saturday game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors, and one of those teams is not looking like the contender they should be.

Normally when you get to a situation like that, you would expect the team that is struggling heavily to go out and make some moves to make your struggling team better. Because if there's anything we've learned from the Lakers for the last 25 to 30 years whether it be Kobe Bryant whether it be Shaquille O'Neal, or even now in the era of LeBron James, the Lakers tend to always find ways to make themselves better.

And here we are two days after the trade deadline and we see teams in the Western Conference making big moves. The Dallas Mavericks traded away Kristaps Porzingis to get two pieces from the Washington Wizards that they hope will help them, the Phoenix Suns made some moves, as did the Utah Jazz.

But the Lakers, who have not been good for the majority of this season injuries be damned, did not make one single trade at the trade deadline. The Lakers, who won the NBA title just two seasons ago and are virtually in the twilight of Lebron’s career, did not make any moves to get better.

And their first game after not getting any better by adding in pieces that would have helped this team in its attempt to win now, is a date with the Golden State Warriors in what has become a tale of two cities within the California area.

It's just weird to look at this and see that the Lakers did nothing to get better at the trade deadline. Russell Westbrook is clearly not the answer. There were rumblings of another Westbrook for John Wall trade but would that move really have done anything for the Lakers considering Wall has not played this entire season?

You would expect a team with all these veteran prospects on their team to go add something to make them better. Carmelo Anthony signed with the Lakers in hopes of getting a championship before his career is over. Dwight Howard came back to Los Angeles for the hopes of another championship.

And it doesn't look like that's going to happen. At all. And you sit back and wonder if the Lakers will actually do anything within their power to get better within the buyout market, but you're not going to find those kinds of resources through the buyout market. Is Goran dragic really the answer to your roster conundrum? I don't really think so.

And now you're asking this Lakers team, that made absolutely no effort to get better, to go to Golden State and try to win a basketball game. I completely understand that the warriors just lost to the New York Knicks on Thursday night in a rather embarrassing effort, but the Knicks tend to play teams hard. The Lakers do not and we're not really sure if they're going to find the time to actually make that a reality.

Yeah, maybe the Lakers really don't need to make a trade or make any other move because they have LeBron and they have Anthony Davis. At the end of the day those are the two that are going to be called upon if the Lakers want to have any aspirations of winning another championship, but now we have to start questioning if the depth is actually worth it and is actually good enough to put together a performance that would put a lot of fans at ease.

But asking the Lakers to find some sort of patience is like hoping that the rabbit would be the turtle in the race.

Steph Curry and Klay Thompson are starting to find their mojo when it comes to playing together. That continues to be a scary sight for the rest of the league. If those two continue to make shots and play extended minutes no one is going to want to face them in the first round. And surely enough no one is going to want to play the warriors as much as everyone wants to play the Lakers right now.

As for prediction and analysis the only thing worthwhile of thinking, is for the warriors to win this game and do it comfortably. Warriors by 12

The Lakers are 16-25 ATS against division opponents over the past three seasons.

The Lakers are 28-16 ATS in getting revenge on an opponent off a home loss.

The Warriors are 54-46 ATS at home over the past three seasons.

PG: Austin Reaves

SG: Malik Monk

SF: LeBron James

PF: Trevor Ariza

C: Anthony Davis

PG: Steph Curry

SG: Klay Thompson

SF: Andrew Wiggins

PF: Otto Porter Jr.

C: Kevon Looney

Lakers: Russell Westbrook (back, questionable), Carmelo Anthony (hamstring, out),

Warriors: Draymond Green (back), Andre Iguodala (back, out), James Wiseman (knee, out)

Points: LeBron James -- 29.1

Rebounds: Anthony Davis -- 10.0

Assists: Russell Westbrook -- 7.6

Points: Steph Curry -- 25.7

Rebounds: Kevon Looney -- 7.5

Assists: Steph Curry -- 6.4