Welcome once again, my fellow Liberty Linemen and Liberty Lineladies to this week’s edition of Beercan Bets. We are looking to keep things rolling tonight, after another successful Thursday last week. The Philadelphia 76ers blew out the Los Angeles Lakers last Thursday, winning 105-87, bringing our total winnings up to $107.44 on our quest to turn $25 into $25,000.

Here is a refresher on what Beercan Bets is all about:

• Download the Parx Sportsbook app and enter the code LIBERTYLINE with your initial $25 deposit.
  • (Note: If you have been following along feel free to skip this part and just move right to step 2.)
• Select one moneyline bet to wager the full $25 (or previous week’s winnings) on.
  • Win. (Joel Embiid put $107.44 in our pocket last week!)
• Apply the total amount won to another single moneyline bet next week.
• Repeat steps 2 thru 4 until we have accumulated $25,000 in winnings.

Tonight’s NBA Game:

Lakers vs Clippers (10:00 PM EST)

This week I was drawn specifically to the battle for LA between the Clippers and the Lakers. Both teams are hovering around .500 with the Lakers posting a 25-27 record and the Clippers are 26-27.

The Clippers have done surprisingly well when you account for the fact that they are missing both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

Meanwhile, based on the number of times you have seen “This is really the man you’re hating on?” posts on twitter featuring Russell Westbrook, you’re probably aware that the Lakers have underachieved.

The Lakers will be without LeBron James this evening. Anthony Davis is listed as probable. They just played last night and haven’t won both games in a back-to-back yet this season.

There’s a lot of reasons to pick against the Lakers tonight. The problem is the Clippers have been wildly inconsistent.

One night the Clippers are getting blown out by the Pelicans, then next week they’re taking the Nuggets to overtime. This game looks like a true toss up. I would normally lean towards going with the team with the most rest in this situation. I’ve been burned by taking a team on the second night of back to back before.

(My first ever Beercan Bets ended in disaster when I picked the Warriors on the second night of a back-to-back against the Pelicans.)

That being said, I’m setting myself up for disaster again this week by taking the Lakers.

Anthony Davis has looked strong coming back from injury, and Westbrook has been inefficient but still averaging 18.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.8 assists.

In order to get to $25,000, we’re going to have to take a few risks. The value of the Lakers at +130 is too great to resist.

The Pick:
The Lakers (+130)