This is an 8* on LA LAKERS

It’s been quite the disappointing start to the season for the LA Lakers, who are just 5-5 straight up and 2-8 against the spread. They’ve lost their last two games. Not only did LeBron James not play on Saturday, but teammate Anthony Davis (sprained thumb) was on the court for only seven minutes. The result was a 105-90 loss to Portland. It wasn’t even that close as the Lakers trailed by 31 going into the fourth quarter. We were happy as we were on the Blazers. But here we’re going with the Lakers. Yes, they played a bad game the other night and still won’t have James. But they are facing a Charlotte team that just got blown out last night in this building by the Clippers. Charlotte is 0-4 straight up and against the spread in its last four games and this is their third road game in the last four nights. That’s a bad situation. There have been multiple games this year where the Lakers blew a big lead and lost. We bring that up to illustrate that they should have a better record. Even without James (and maybe Davis?), we’re confident they can down the Hornets. Play on LA LAKERS

AAA