NBA Basketball
2010-11-17 - LA Lakers at Detroit Pistons
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States: NBA Basketball
Wednesday 17 November 2010 - Tip-Off 7:30pm ET
12:30am (British Standard Time)
Preview
Well it is no surprise to me that the LA Lakers (9-2) got back to winning ways last night with an impressive 11 point win over the Milwaukee Bucks. They now face their 2nd game in consecutive nights as they visit the Palace of Auburn Hills to take on the Detroit Pistons (4-7).
Kobe Bryant was excellent again last night, as he has been for much of his career when playing the Bucks, but it was Shannon Brown's 21 point effort off the bench that once again demonstrated why the Lakers are the team to beat in the Western Conference. Ron Artest was given less minutes last night, but much of that seems to be down to the consecutive games and the performance of Brown and Artest is expected to start tonight.
The Lakers scored almost 30 points more than the Bucks had been giving up on average this season and showed their Offensive power. There was also an improvement in their Defensive play although they have now given up at least 107 points in each of their last 3 games.
Detroit is another team that relies on their bench to give them an edge in games, and it seems they have turned a corner in recent games after starting the season with 5 straight losses. Charlie Villaneuva and Ben Gordon are 2 of their leading scorers this season, but both are used primarily off the bench when all the roster is available.
It was the bench that made the Pistons last score even respectable, despite losing. They had found themselves 32 points behind the Golden State Warriors but fought back through the play of Villaneuva and Gordon and ended up losing by 4 points.
Head to Head
The Pistons and the Lakers were familiar foes earlier in the decade as both were considered in the elite teams in the NBA. Detroit beat LA 4-1 in the NBA Finals in 2004 and had enjoyed that time when they went on a run of 12-4 against the Lakers in games.
Recent times have not been so successful as the Pistons have aged and they have now lost 3 in a row in the series.
The Lakers are 5-1 against the spread in recent games between the 2 teams. They have also won the last 2 at the Palace of Auburn Hills and hold a 4-1 record against the spread in the last 5 meetings there.
Prediction
Detroit have been playing well in recent games and have been competitive in many of them, although they will not want to have to make a similar comeback against the Lakers as they were forced to when playing the Golden State Warriors last time out.
While I can see the Pistons being competitive for a while, it will be hard to keep pace with the scoring power that the Lakers possess.
Initially I was favouring the 'Over 203 Points' option here, but I have been put off by the fact that Detroit have been limited to 93 points or less in 6 of their last 7 games with the Lakers.
LA have a good record against the Pistons in recent games, and I think they have more depth here and will cover the spread. A quick look at the Pistons schedule shows they have not had the toughest set of games, and they have struggled against the better teams they have played like Boston and Portland.
I'll take the Lakers (again) minus the points.
The Pick :
Detroit Pistons 93-106 LA Lakers
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
Take the Los Angeles Lakers -7.5 Points to win and cover that spread.
