NBA Basketball
2011-02-01 - Houston Rockets at LA Lakers
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States: NBA Basketball
Tuesday 1 February 2011 - Tip-Off 10:30pm ET
3:30am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The issue with the LA Lakers (33-15) this season has been their struggles against the elite teams in the NBA and that reared its head again as they threw away a 4 point first half advantage to lose to the Boston Celtics on Sunday at the Staples Center. Now Phil Jackson has to get his side up for a game against a sub 500 team, and even that has presented its problems of late.
The defeat to Boston means the Lakers have now dropped 4 of their last 7 and even Kobe Bryant could not drag them through against the Celtics. Bryant had 41 points on his own in that loss, but the other 4 starters totalled 31 points between them.
While the Lakers are 1-5 against the Boston, Orlando, Chicago, San Antonio, Miami and Dallas elite 6, they have recently begun to struggle at home against the beatable teams. Sacramento were the latest to come into the Staples Center and leave with the W, joining losing teams like Milwaukee and Indiana and also middle of the pack Memphis. The Lakers are 18-7 at home this season, those 7 losses matching how many they had all of last season.
Next up for the Lakers is another team with a losing record, this time in the form of the improving Houston Rockets (22-27). The Rockets come into the game off a close loss at San Antonio Spurs and will be looking for an improved effort from Kevin Martin who scored just 10 points in that loss. Martin is averaging a team best 23 points this season.
However, he has been really inconsistent over his last 6 games. In 3 of those games he has averaged 31 points per game but in the other 3 he is averaging just 12 points.
Houston may be improving but they have lost 4 of their last 6 games overall and 6 of the last 9 away from their home court.
Head to Head
The teams have been involved in 2 close games already this season. The Lakers beat Houston here by 2 points, but the Rockets got their revenge with a 10 point home win.
LA have won 4 of the last 5 games at the Staples Center between the two teams but are 3-2 against the spread in those games.
The home team is 7-3 against the spread in the series.
LA are 10-15 against the spread at home this season, Houston are 13-12-1 on the road.
The Lakers are 14-16 against the spread with 1 days rest, Houston are 3-4 on 2 days rest.
Other Interesting Notes
LA are 8-21 against the spread in their last 29 games at home against a team with a losing record on the road.
They are 5-11-1 against the spread against teams in the Western Conference and are 1-6 when playing teams from the same Division as Houston.
The Lakers are 2-5 against the spread when favoured at home by between 5 and 10 points.
Houston are 20-9-1 against the spread when losing the previous game by double digits.
They are 7-20 against the spread when playing a team with a winning home record of above 60%.
However the Rockets have won their last 7 against the spread when playing teams from the same Division as the Lakers.
Prediction
The Lakers were very disappointing against Boston in the 2nd half and it could be hard for them to get up for this game on an emotional level. The concentration of the players is to reverse the trend of losing to the elite teams and with San Antonio next on the schedule, perhaps they will be looking ahead and not focusing on this game.
Houston have the likes of Kyle Lowry and Aaron Brooks to give the Lakers fits, especially Derek Fisher. The loss of Yao Ming means they cant compete with the big men of LA, but the speed of their Point Guards and Kevein Martin should allow them to get in towards the rim.
The Rockets had a tough loss at San Antonio last time out, but they have showed their mettle in playing the better teams in the NBA without necessarily crossing over the line to win. They recently have had close losses in Dallas and at San Antonio, but won at Atlanta.
I am going to back the Rockets with the points here because of the reasons highlighted above. I just have a feeling the Lakers could lose focus thinking about the Spurs and Houston have already pushed them twice this season.
The Pick :
LA Lakers 106-101 Houston Rockets
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll take the Houston Rockets + 8.5 Points @ 1.95 (1 UNIT)Follow me on Twitter @DavindaAulak- direct link is below
