In all likelihood, the Los Angeles Lakers are a team that is giving itself some time to hit its stride. Some prominent newcomers have joined the fold, and the objective obviously is to have everybody on the same page come playoff time.

BetOnline customers may have been a little unsure as to what to expect out of the Lakers this season, but there wasn't too much doubt about what was going on with the Houston Rockets. This is a team that has put the Mike D'Antoni era very much in the rearview mirror, and they are in a total rebuild.

These clubs will meet up at 10:40 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday night at the Staples Center. In a scheduling quirk, there will be a rematch at the same site on Tuesday night. The Lakers are currently sitting at 3 - 3, but of course there's a long way to go. The Rockets are 1 - 4, and the season is likely to get longer and longer the more it proceeds.

The Lakers will have some significant player absences on Sunday night. Kendrick Nunn, Talen Horton-Tucker and Trevor Ariza have been ruled out. And the status of LeBron James is a little bit unclear; he has been dealing with some ankle soreness, and is listed as questionable. James had missed two games, then played Friday night at Cleveland, where he scored 26 points in a 113 - 101 victory.

In the NBA betting odds posted on this game by the folks at BetOnline, the Lakers are the double-digit favorites:

Los Angeles Lakers - 10.5 -107
Houston Rockets + 10.5 - 113

Over 220.5 points -116
Under 225 points - 104

With Houston, coached by Stephen Silas, the fundamentals have been a big problem. They are dead last in the league in two-point shooting on offense, and next-to-last in defending two-pointers (55.6%). And the bad news is that their opponents have hit them with more two-point attempts than any other team in the NBA has.

The Rockets are also 29th in the turnover department, so that might promote the Lakers' fast break game.

These are not the old days in Houston, when they would throw three-pointers up with absolute abandon. This edition of the team has averaged a little over 37 attempts from beyond the arc, and that is only 13th highest in the NBA.

Christian Wood is kind of a small-ball center, and found a home in Houston after stops in Philadelphia, Charlotte, Milwaukee, New Orleans and Detroit. Last year he averaged 21 points per game for the Rockets, and this year he leads the team wih 19.8 points and 11.2 rebounds. He is hitting 46% from three-point range, and takes a lot of shots from there. But he is only 47% in two-point territory. At 215 pounds, he's not the guy who is going to bang inside.

Houston took Jalen Green with the second pick in the draft, and while he is averaging 14.2 points, it is on I rather pitiful 34.7% shooting.

The Lakers are 25th in the NBA in Defensive Rating, and that will have to improve if they hope to win their second world title in three seasons. However, everything seems to be okay on the offensive end. This team makes more field goals than anyone in the league; they are hitting 48.7% overall and, in an area that would trouble Houston, 54.3% from 3-point range. Their bugaboo is in the way of defensive rebounding, tere are only two teams in the NBA who have been worse.

Anthony Davis, who is listed as probable, is averaging 26.2 points. Of the veterans who have come aboard, most notable are, of course, Russell Westbrook, who has averaged 8.7 assists and 18 points a game, and Carmelo Anthony, who has been a real asset off the bench, hitting 48.5%. He had 24 points against the Cavaliers on Friday.

With the Rockets would like to do is force him to take shots from long-range, as he is only 21% accurate from beyond the three-point line.

But we're not sure Houston is capable of dictating what kind of shots its opponents get, although we are almost certain the Lakers will push to get inside. This promises to be a relatively swift pace, as the Lakers and Rockets are third and fourth in that category, which measures the number of possessions per 48 minutes. Whether LeBron plays or not, in our minds this promotes going over the total, even at the price, and in a smaller way, we could lay points with the home team.

BetOnline offers you a lot of great options when it comes to wagering on NBA action, including all the props you need..... Make sure you check out the Live Betting tab, and remember that if you're worried it might be difficult to open up an account, you've got a lot of options, which includes Bitcoin and a number of altcoins for your convenience!