NBA Picks: Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The Los Angeles Lakers will look to get back on track when they host the Houston Rockets Tuesday night at the Staples Center. The two teams have split their two games so far this season, with the home team winning in each game.
Houston opened up their four game road trip with a 111-106 loss at Dallas last Thursday, and then followed that up with a 108-95 loss at San Antonio on Saturday. Houston is just 2-4 in their last six games overall.
The Lakers come in off a disappointing 109-96 loss at home to the Boston Celtics on Sunday. It was the defending champs second second straight loss overall, as they fell 100-95 at home against the Kings on Friday.
Taking a look at the NBA spreads for tonight’s game, oddsmakers have the Lakers favored by 8.5-points over the Rockets with the total set at 210.
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Houston beat the Lakers 109-99 on their home floor back on Dec. 1, and nearly beat Los Angeles at the Staples Center, as Steve Blake hit a late three-pointer to give the Lakers a 112-110 win over Houston on opening night.
As bad as the Lakers looked on Sunday, the Rockets have to expect Los Angeles to come out and really play hard. Los Angeles won’t want to have a three-game losing streak with San Antonio on the schedule next and a seven game road trip after that.
Houston is going to need Kevin Martin to come out with a big game for the Rockets to pull off the upset. Martin has been hit or miss lately. Against the Mavericks, Martin had 27 points, but in the following game against the Spurs he had just 10 points. Martin seems to be at his best when he is aggressive and gets to the free throw line, and that will be a big key for him tonight.
Houston will also need a big game from Luis Scola, who had a team-high 23 points against the Spurs. The Rockets will also need a big game out of Kyle Lowry and Aaron Brooks.
It’s hard to figure out if this Lakers team isn’t as good as you might believe, or if they are just struggling to bring the intensity during the regular season.
Against the Celtics Kobe Bryant scored 41 points on 16 of 29 shooting, and without Bryant going off the score likely would have been much worse than it was. Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, and Derek Fisher combined for 20 points on 7 of 29 shooting. Andrew Bynum had 11 points on 3 of 6 shooting, but played just 28 minutes because of foul trouble.
Lamar Odom was the only other player who really played well, with 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting, but he saw just 27 minutes of playing time. Odom had just two fouls for the game, and you have to wonder why he wasn’t on the court more, especially with the way the rest of the team was struggling.
While I think the Lakers will pull out the win tonight, I think this game is going to be a lot closer than the oddsmakers have set this line. Los Angeles is just 8-21 ATS in their last 29 home games vs. a team with a losing road record. and are giving up too many points tonight.
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