NBA Picks: Los Angeles Lakers at New York Knicks
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The Los Angeles Lakers will go for their eighth straight win over the New York Knicks when the two teams face off at Madison Square Garden tonight. Los Angeles already beat the Knicks at home this season 109-87.
Taking a look at the NBA spreads for this game, oddsmakers have the Lakers favored by 3-points with the total set at 210.5.
The Lakers rallied from 15 down to beat the Boston Celtics 92-86 on the road last night, and are now a perfect 3-0 on their current seven-game road trip.
The Knicks have not looked good at all lately, and just recently lost at home to the Clippers 116-108. It was their third loss in their last four games. New York is just 5-10 in their last 15 since losing to the Lakers back on Jan.9.
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The Lakers confidence level really has to be at one of its highest points this season, as they really had to gut it out in the second half to beat a very good Boston team.
Los Angeles was led by Kobe Bryant’s 23 points, but the inside play of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum is what made the difference. Gasol finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Bynum had 16 points and nine assists.
The thing the Lakers have to be most happy about is the way they played on the defensive end in the second half. Los Angeles held the Celtics to just 33 points in the final two periods, and 40.2% shooting on the game. In their last game against the Knicks, Los Angeles held New York to just 36.0% from the field.
The Knicks better come out with a lot more intensity than they have lately if they want any chance of winning this game. Against the Clippers, Amare Stoudemire led the way with 23 points, Danilo Gallinari put in 21, Timofey Mozgov went 8-9 for 18 points, and Raymond Felton dripped in 17 and dished out 12 assists.
Offense wasn’t a problem for New York, it was their inability to stop anyone in a Clippers uniform on defense. The Clippers shot 54.7% from the field, and 52.9% from three-point range.
I know the Lakers are coming off a big win at Boston, but I don’t think we will see a let down from Los Angeles tonight. Bryant is averaging 30.3 points at Madison Square Garden over his career, and the Lakers seem to be really clicking right now. Take the Lakers to win this game by at least 4 points.
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