In TNT’s all-star matchup, The Kid From Akron returns to Ohio tonight, while The Lad From Ljubljana hosts The Two-Time MVP from Sombor. That’s right, LeBron James is taking his talents to Northeast Ohio for a matchup with Cleveland Cavaliersand Luka Dončić and Dallas Mavericks the face of Nikola Jokić and Denver Nuggets in a nightcap. And we haven’t even mentioned the guy who scored 99 points in his last two games, Anthony Davis, who has been beating up every big man in his way for weeks now.

The Lakers have won three in a row and eight of their last ten games to climb to 13th in the West. Davis is scoring, the team is finally hitting some 3-pointers, and LeBron is suddenly the league’s most overqualified assistant.

As for Cleveland, they are third in the East and 10-1 at home, but may be without starting center Jarrett Allen, who has missed five games with a back injury. They are also missing small forward Dean Wade, also known as Cuyahoga’s Austin Reaves.

Meanwhile, after a four-game losing streak, the Mavericks righted the situation by making the ultimate game-changing move for the 2022-2023 season: playing Golden State Warriors. Dallas has won three of four and is playing significantly better since Tim Hardaway Jr. moved into the starting lineup ahead of Reggie Bullock. Both actors excelled in their new roles.

Denver has lost two straight on the road in the Southeast, where Jose Alvarado and Dejounte Murray both homered. They will play without the ailing Michael Porter Jr. and they struggled to assemble an effective unit on the bench. As a Warriors fan, I can’t relate.

Oddmakers aren’t buying the Lakers’ hot streak, listing Cleveland as a 5.5-point favorite, with an over/under of 225.5. But we’re focused on our favorites, games of the same game. We raise our hands, we bet, it’s parlay in the USA

If you believe the last ten games of the Lakers, then we would like to simply par: Lakers +5.5, along with LeBron James who has 40+ points + rebounds and Anthony Davis 30+ points + rebounds (+400). It almost seems like the two players are reversed, as Davis has had at least 30 points and rebounds in every game he’s played this season. In fact, we like to bet that Davis will exceed 28.5 points and 13.5 rebounds, along with the Lakers on the money line, at +850.

If you believe in the Cavs — and don’t believe in the Lakers’ perimeter defense — we say take the Cavs moneyline, complete with Donovan Mitchell scoring 30+ points and Darius Garland scoring 20+ points (+330). We also like to go on the Cavs money line, along with Davis and Evan Mobley both having 12+ rebounds. The Lakers are making progress, but they’re also in the middle of a road trip and expect some missed shots tonight.

In the last game, the Nuggets are 4.5-point favorites at home with a total of 222.5. What do we like most about this game? Aaron Gordon’s newfound three-point shooting and Nikola Jokic’s passing against this Mavericks team that hasn’t shown the same defense as in years past. Parlay Nuggets -4.5 with Gordon hitting more than one 3-pointer and Jokic getting 10 or more assists gives you +500 odds.

Another fun one to root for is the Double Triple-Double. If Dončić and Joic are both triplets, it pays +1100. If you pick a team – we like the Nuggets – on the money line, it goes to +2000.

We like Denver’s very optimistic shooting game from long range: Nuggets -4.5 points, Jokic with 12+ rebounds and 2+ blocks, along with Gordon, who has 7+ rebounds and 1+ block. It pays out at (+5000) – look, if the first four of these happen, the Nuggets are guaranteed to win by five points.