Who Wins More Game This Season: Celtics or Lakers?

[Redz]

Every year I have some sort of pre-season bet with my good friend Laker Lover Lou.  This year I think we're going to go with a straightforward "who gets more wins" bet.  I'm thinking the Lakers could underachieve a bit and win 50-something and the Celtics might have to have a few things come together to do the same.  I'm thinking one of the two are going to happen, but probably not both.  I'm going to roll with the Lakers having a bunch of injuries (starting with the Kuzma).  Celtics edge out the Lakers like 51 to 50.

Last year I won with "who wins more playoff games"?

[Sophomore]

The Lakers are really hard to predict this year, especially in the regular season.

Best case for the Lakers, LeBron is going to manage his load and miss a lot of games; worst case, age really catches up to him and he either suffers another injury or starts trending late-career Jordan.

AD probably needs some load management, too. And behind those two, the quality tails off fast.

[saltlover]

Celtics and it won’t be very close.  5-10 more wins easily.

[Donoghus]

Celtics. 

Lakers have some more glaring question marks at the moment and playing in the tougher conference.

[Who]

I have them around the same area. High 40s wins.

[gpap]

I have them around the same area. High 40s wins.

Agreed. I have the Celts winning 50 games.

[Big333223]

The West is a bloodbath and the Lakers have nobody beyond their top 2. I've got them around 47 wins and the Celtics around 50. It'll be close but I think the Celtics win more.

[Moranis]

The C's are deeper in the backcourt and on the wings, but the C's are horrid down low.  I have no confidence at all in any big man not named Enes Kanter.  I think Boston is a mid-40's win team.  I think the Lakers are at worst like an upper 40's win team and that is with the assumption that Lebron and Davis will miss time (Davis like 10 and Lebron like 15).  I think they are actually a decently constructed roster (unlike last year) and at the end of the day Davis and Lebron are still top 5ish players in the world.  That, quite simply, matters a lot. 

[nickagneta]

I would guess both at around 47-48 wins and add the caveat that if LA had Boston's schedule and vice versa, LA would probably be a low 50's win team and Boston would be lower 40's win team.

Having the 2 best players, I went with LA.

[Phantom255x]

I think Lakers honestly.

But my guess, Celtics get 49-50 wins. Lakers get 52-ish wins. Celtics and Lakers though will both be around the 3 or 4 seeds. I think some people are sleeping a bit on Houston, and I have the Clippers as the #1 seed in the West. In the East, MIL/PHI will be Top-2 in some order, and then Boston/Indiana fight for the 3-4 seeds.

[Alleyoopster]

LeBron always draws interest from talented players who want to play with him. Add Davis, the draw has even  greater appeal.
A healthy Lebron, Davis add new arrivals ---55-60 wins.

Celtics---40 wins

[PhoSita]

Lakers, but I think the Celts will be a lot closer than most casual fans assume.


The West is much more competitive.  LeBron and Davis will both inevitably miss time; if they miss games at the same time, the Lakers will be in serious trouble during that stretch.  The Lakers also have pretty a pretty weak and severely flawed supporting cast, IMO.

[Moranis]

Lakers, but I think the Celts will be a lot closer than most casual fans assume.


The West is much more competitive.  LeBron and Davis will both inevitably miss time; if they miss games at the same time, the Lakers will be in serious trouble during that stretch.  The Lakers also have pretty a pretty weak and severely flawed supporting cast, IMO.

I think the supporting cast is actually quite good if Davis and James are on the floor as I think the supporting cast is actually well constructed around those 2.  where the supporting cast will come up short is if James and Davis are out for extended periods of time, especially together, though honestly if you take the 2 best players off of any team and they will struggle.  I think Kuzma is a pretty solid 3rd scoring option.  Bradley, Green, Dudley, and Rondo provide mostly quality wing defense.  Howard and McGee are pretty solid rebounders and defenders.  They get solid shooting from Hart, Daniels, Cook, and Bradley and Green.  It all hinges on James and Davis being on the floor, but I do really think they have a well constructed roster this year, which wasn't the case last year.

[gouki88]

Celtics. One injury to one of their core players will derail them completely. With LeBron's durability getting worse and AD being quite injury-prone that could happen quite easily

[Fierce1]

There's just no way the Lakers will win more games than the Celts this season.

The main reason is the western conference is loaded with star players.

In the east, only the Bucks are a legit 50-win team.

You don't even have to include GSW in list of great teams in the west.
There are at least 4 western teams that could end up having more wins than the Lakers.
The Clips, Jazz, Nuggets, and Rockets are most likely going to win more games than the Lakers.

While the Celts are not yet an elite team, the eastern conference is weak this season.
That's why I think the Celts will end up winning more games than the Lakers.

If the Celts were in the west then that's another story.