Lakers vs. Clippers on NBA Christmas Day: Live stream info, watch online, TV channel, odds, start time, pick - CBS Sports

The NBA's transaction season started this past summer with the Lakers acquiring Anthony Davis and the Clippers nabbing Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The 2019-20 regular season tipped off with the two teams squaring off on opening night. Odds are, the final game of the Western Conference's postseason will feature both teams. 

And on Christmas Day? We get the game around which the entire regular season revolves. Yes, the Lakers and the Clippers have played before. Yes, they will play again. Yes, Davis and LeBron James are both hobbled. And yes, the stakes of this game are relatively minor compared to the ones that are coming in May and June. But for the first time, all four Los Angeles superstars will take the floor at once. This is the first glimpse that the basketball world will have into how arguably the two best teams in basketball actually match up against one another at full strength with their best players. So buckle up and get ready, because this is the game you have to see on Christmas Day. 

Here's everything you need to know for this likely Western Conference finals preview. 

How to Watch

• Date: Wednesday, Dec. 25 | 8 p.m. ET
• Location: Staples Center -- Los Angeles, California
• TV: ESPN | Stream: WatchESPN
• Odds: LAC +115 | LAL -135 | O/U: 222.5

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Storylines

Lakers: The Lakers have heard all of the noise about their schedule. Each of their losses have come against a team currently above .500, and they've lost their two bouts against realistic title contenders in the Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks. It's a lazy narrative, but one that will follow the Lakers until they excise it. If the Clippers lose this game, it's just another regular-season Wednesday. If the Lakers lose it? It is an existential crisis, one that leads to every minor flaw on this terrific roster being picked apart until their next chance at felling their Staples Center co-tenants, which won't come for another month. 

Clippers: The Lakers need this game in a way that the Clippers don't, and that creates a meaningful opportunity for Doc Rivers to experiment with his lineups and strategies. The boogeyman waiting under his bed (or rather, over his rim) is Anthony Davis. As loaded as the Clippers are on the perimeter, they have no apparent answer for the NBA's best big man, so don't be surprised to see Rivers tinker. Montrezl Harrell, JaMychal Green and Ivica Zubac will all get looks. They might even try to go small with Patrick Patterson or Moe Harkless at center just to see how Davis responds to it. And if none of it works? At least then the Clippers will know, and can spend the period leading up to the trade deadline working to solve the Davis problem. 

Game prediction, pick

In a seven-game series, the Clippers have to be considered the favorites in this matchup. Their roster is simply more complete. The Lakers are overly reliant on two players, and until that changes, they are simply too predictable to be favored against what is inarguably the NBA's best non-Warriors roster in recent memory. 

Though in a regular-season game, even one as momentous as this? The Lakers care more than the Clippers do. They are the team with the narrative weakness. They are the team that will have to answer for whatever this matchup's outcome is, and frankly, they have been the team playing their hearts out every night in the regular season while the Clippers have load-managed with impunity. That makes the Lakers, especially as underdogs, a very tempting pick. But ... given their injuries, it just doesn't make sense to suggest that they can hang with the fully loaded Clippers yet. Their meeting in January now seems like a better barometer of how these two teams stand against one another, so for now, the logical pick is to go with the best team. Pick: Clippers -2. 

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Lakers vs. Clippers on NBA Christmas Day: Live stream info, watch online, TV channel, odds, start time, pick - CBS Sports
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