Los Angeles Lakers vs Golden State Warriors Prediction, 4/9/2026 Preview and Pick

Game: Los Angeles Lakers vs Golden State Warriors

Date: Thursday, April 9, 2026

Location: Chase Center in San Francisco, CA

TV: Prime Video

The Los Angeles Lakers (50-28) are en route to Chase Center on Thursday where they will attempt to defeat the Golden State Warriors (36-42).

The Lakers played the Mavericks and took a loss by a final of 134-128 in their last contest. Concerning fouls, the Lakers finished with 23 while the Mavericks accumulated 22 fouls. They buried 14 out of their 32 attempts from long range. Dallas ended up going 77.8% at the charity stripe by knocking down 28 of their 36 shots. In addition, Dallas snagged 38 boards (8 offensive, 30 defensive) and added 1 block. Dallas doled out 27 dimes and had 11 steals in this matchup. With respect to the defense, Los Angeles allowed 52.3% from the field on 46 of 88 shooting. They also doled out 36 assists for the contest in addition to forcing 7 turnovers and having 6 steals. Pertaining to pulling down boards, they compiled 49 with 11 of them being of the offensive variety. From the free throw line, the Lakers converted 26 of their 33 attempts for a percentage of 78.8%. Los Angeles walked away from the contest with a 51.6% FG percentage (47 out of 91) and converted 8 out of their 27 shots from beyond the perimeter.

LeBron James is one guy who was a major contributor in this game. James walked away from this one shooting 54.5% from the field and also earned 15 dimes. He played for 39 minutes played and totaled 9 rebounds. He totaled 30 points on 12 out of 22 shooting.

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Los Angeles heads into this contest with a win-loss record of 50-28 this year. They average 116.7 points per outing (11th in the league) while hitting 50.1% from the floor. The Lakers are connecting on 35.6% on shots beyond the perimeter (922 of 2,592) and 76.8% from the charity stripe. As a team, Los Angeles is pulling in 41.1 boards per contest and has tallied 1,995 dimes so far this year, which ranks 20th in the NBA in terms of passing the ball. They are giving up possession 14.4 times per contest and as a group they commit 18.6 personal fouls per contest.

On the defensive end, the Lakers are able to force 14.5 turnovers per contest while drawing 21.3 personal fouls. They are ranked 20th in basketball in giving up assists to the opposition with 2,155 surrendered this year. The Lakers are giving up a FG percentage of 48.4% (3,332 of 6,880) and they surrender 40.9 rebounds per contest as a basketball team. They are surrendering 35.5% on shots from distance and they rank 14th in the NBA in PPG allowed (115.3).

When they last stepped on the hardwood, the Warriors took a loss by a final score of 117-116 against the Rockets. The Warriors were able to snag 25 defensive rebounds and 6 offensive rebounds totaling 31 for the matchup. They turned the ball over 10 times, while earning 7 steals for the game. The Rockets had 16 personal fouls for the game which took the Warriors to the charity stripe for a total of 20 shots. They were able to knock down 18 of them for a rate of 90.0%. Regarding shots from downtown, Golden State made 14 of their 40 tries (35.0%). In all, the Warriors finished 42 for 84 from the field which gave them a rate of 50.0%. The Warriors allowed the Rockets to make 44 of their 80 tries from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 55.0% in the game. They wrapped up this game 44.8% from 3-point land via 13 out of 29 and finished the contest at 16 of 19 from the free throw line (84.2%). In relation to team rebounding, Golden State allowed Houston to snag 38 in total (8 on the offensive side).

Stephen Curry was important for the Warriors in the matchup. Curry racked up 29 points in his 26 mins on the hardwood and had 4 dimes for this game. He converted 11 out of 21 in this game giving him a field goal percentage of 52.4%, and had 2 rebounds.

Golden State has a record of 36-42 for the year. On the offensive side of the court, the Warriors are connecting on 46.1% from the field, which is 25th in basketball. Golden State has totaled 8,957 pts for the season (114.8 per game) and they collect 42.5 boards per contest. They are getting an assist 29.0 times per game (4th in the league) and they lose possession via turnover 15.7 times per game. The Warriors commit 19.8 personal fouls every game and they connect on 80.3% from the free throw line.

The Warriors defensively are ranked 12th in the NBA in points given up per game with 115.1. They are forcing their opponents into 15.9 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 47.9% from the floor (23rd in the league). The Golden State defense gives up 35.8% on 3-pointers (1,002 of 2,799) and their opponents are converting on 80.4% of their free throw shots. They give up 27.0 dimes and 44.4 boards on a nightly basis, which has them ranked 17th and 18th in the league.

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Golden State

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