Lakers closing in on Clippers in NBA Championship odds

The race for the 2020 NBA Championship is turning into an all-L.A. affair. After one month of play, the Clippers still have the shortest odds to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy at +325, but the Lakers are nipping at their heels at +350. That’s a marked improvement from the +400 odds LeBron James and Co. sported at BetAmerica as recently as a week ago.

Odds to win the 2020 NBA Championship

*Odds do not include the Houston Rockets

The Lakers’ improved odds coincide with a four-game win streak, in which L.A. outscored its opponents by 14 points per contest. The Lakers have now won nine of their last 10 outings and boast the best point differential in the NBA.

Lakers have been tenacious on D

The key to the Lakers’ success in 2019 has been the team’s surprisingly staunch defense. L.A. has the league’s best defensive rating and is limiting teams to just 100.6 points per game. That’s a staggering 13.1-point improvement from a season ago, and it hasn’t happened by accident. Head coach Frank Vogel has been preaching a smash-mouth approach since the team’s first day of training camp, and everyone has bought in. Yes, even James.

After years of coasting on defense, James has looked significantly more engaged on the other end of the court. The four-time MVP is posting his best defensive rating since 2012 and is back to chasing down fast breaks and erasing layups with extreme prejudice.

Dwight Howard is back to being a defensive menace

The Lakers have also gotten a huge boost from Dwight Howard, who is back to making life miserable for opposing bigs, rather than his own front office. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year ranks 12th in the NBA in blocks and appears to have put aside his Superman-sized ego after landing on his fifth team in five years. His days of earning All-Star nods are long gone, but Howard should be applauded for not only accepting a more limited role, but embracing it.

Injuries have derailed the Clippers

Things are a little less sunny for the Clippers, who have lost two of their last four games and have been hard hit by injuries to key personnel. Starting point guard Patrick Beverly recently sat out two games with left calf soreness, and Kawhi Leonard has missed five of L.A.'s first 14 games and is currently sidelined with a left-knee contusion. It's a troublesome trend for a player who has never played more than 74 games in a season.

Leonard's absence has been mitigated lately by the return of Paul George, who exploded for 70 points over his first two games. The six-time All-Star came up big again Monday, when he hit a go-ahead three with 25 seconds remaining to down the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was a huge moment for George against his former team, and it's the latest indication he has fully recovered from the shoulder issues that plagued him a year ago.

The Clippers are getting the benefit of the doubt

The Clippers have two fewer wins than the Lakers this season, but oddsmakers will continue to give Doc Rivers' squad the benefit of the doubt, until George and Leonard finally share the court together. The next week should provide us all with a glimpse of just how special their partnership can be.

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