Two NBA games where the margin is more about depth and rotations than about a clear better team. Neither side has an official game this season, so form strings are preseason and tell us little about who plays heavy minutes.
Golden State and the Lakers have already met twice in preseason, and the Warriors won both, by 12 and by 26. Butler and Moody were out for those games too, so the meetings were not full strength, while Podziemski and Porzingis are newer absences and Curry is doubtful. Still, the Warriors have a deep bench of Horford, Niang, Payton and Santos who play real minutes, and bench quality decides the margin when benches share the second half. The Lakers also manage minutes widely across their rotation. That's why I'm siding with the Warriors getting a generous cushion of points.
The Clippers host Sacramento after losing three wings, Beal, Ingram and Strus, which thins their perimeter defence just as LaVine and Murray arrive. The Kings keep their top scorers, Sabonis, LaVine, Murray and Hunter, and their five-game preseason losing run came in bench-heavy rotations that will not look like an opener. Garland and Lopez will pressure a turnover-prone Kings side, so this is not a big edge. I'm siding with Sacramento to stay within the points.
