The NBA season continues with a big game between two playoffs hopefuls looking to improve their seed position as the Los Angeles Lakers travel to take on the Milwaukee Bucks.
Both teams are in a good place coming into this game as the Bucks have a regular season record of 36-28 in the Eastern Conference, which sees them sitting in the 4th seed, while the Lakers have a record of 40-23 and sit 3rd in the West.
We’ll take a look at the matchup between the sides and provide you with our best free NBA betting picks to see if we can earn you some extra cash while you enjoy the action on the court.
Learn more about how to bet on the NBA here.
The Lakers’ pre-season was dominated by the addition of Bronny James, son of legendary star and current roster member LeBron James, but the season will now be remembered as the year Luka Doncic made the move to Los Angeles.
The campaign started with three consecutive wins and four wins in their opening six games of the season, before defeats to Detroit Pistons and Memphis Grizzlies put them at 4-4. But LeBron, Anthony Davies and Austin Reaves stepped up their performances and the Lakers won their next six in a row before finishing the month with an 11-8 record.
The Lakers started December with four defeats in their first six before five wins in their following six games, including three wins over the Sacramento Kings and one over Golden State Warriors.
2025 started with three defeats in their first five games before going on a run of six wins in their following seven games, including a win over Charlotte Hornets where Davies scored 42 points and registered 23 rebounds in a stunning performance.
Since Doncic arrived and made his debut in February’s win over the Utah Jazz, the Lakers have had a fantastic record, going 9-2 before the two most recent defeats took their season record to 40-23, although LeBron suffered an injury which will see him miss the upcoming games.
Milwaukee have had a very mixed season themselves and started poorly, going 1-4 in their opening five games despite the best efforts of star duo Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
They moved to a 2-8 record before finally putting together a run of wins as the Bucks claimed nine wins in their next ten games, including an impressive run of seven wins on the bounce. That run came to an end against the Atlanta Hawks before a second defeat to the Boston Celtics. Milwaukee responded well though, winning six of their next seven to move to 16-12.
January started with a 3-3 record in their opening six games, before a five-game winning streak got kickstarted by a Giannis triple-double against the Sacramento Kings. They then lost three of their final four games in the month to end with a record of 26-20.
February started slowly too but since the All-Star break the Bucks have been strong. Three consecutive wins over the LA Clippers, Washington Wizards and Miami Heat helped boost their form, before two quick-fire wins over Dallas Mavericks to open up March. They come into this game with defeats in their last three games though.
Despite the recent poor run of form, the Bucks have got a big advantage in this game with the double threat of Giannis and Lillard coming up against a Lakers side that will be without LeBron.
Doncic is a world-class basketball player, but he can’t do it all on his own and this team isn’t built around him in the same way it was in Dallas, which means he will find it harder to win games on his own for a little while.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee’s star duo are the highest-scoring pair in the NBA this season and should be fresh after a few days off before this game following defeat last time out.
The home crowd will be on their side too and pushing them on, and they know they need a big win to help their chances of securing a higher seed ahead of the playoffs. The team is strong and against a weakened Lakers team, the best value bet is on Milwaukee claiming a win on the moneyline.
Check out our review for BetOnline sports betting here.
Last season when these two teams met, the games averaged just under 250 total points each.
But this season the teams aren’t as free-scoring as they were, with the Lakers averaging a total of 112.8 points scored per game and the Bucks averaging 114.33 points scored per game. Defensively Milwaukee are averaging just 112 points allowed per game and the Lakers slightly better with 111.4 points allowed.
That means those totals are highly unlikely to be matched again this season, and even moreso without LeBron in the team to help boost the numbers.
Take the alternative under and enjoy the action.
Check out our review for Bovada sports betting here.
About the Author
Daniel is a football writer who has a great thirst for the Premier League and other major European leagues. A lover of the beautiful game and a firm believer that the eye test is better than statistics. Also an avid MMA fan.
Read Daniel's ProfileAsk Daniel about this guide:
