Sunday's Best NBA Bets
New York Knicks at Los Angeles Lakers (-6.5, 211)
January is only nine days old and already the Los Angeles Lakers are looking forward to the end of the month.
Those nine days have been drama filled for the defending NBA champs, with the media jumping on head coach Phil Jackson’s relationships with Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest, as well as Lamar Odom’s new reality series with his famous-for-being-famous wife Khloe Kardashian. The latest news out of La-La Land is that Bryant’s knee is acting up, limiting what he can do to prepare for games in practice.
"Having him out there to practice makes it better for our team," Jackson told the Los Angeles Times. "But once they play with him a few games again, then they adjust to the fact that he's a guy that's going to break off some of the offense, he's going to chase (possession of) the ball once in a while, he's going to shortchange some of the things that we do to get the ball (to others). That itself breaks the rhythm a little bit and players adjust to it and they're fine."
In the midst of all these distractions, the Lakers have gone 3-1 in January but have managed to cover in just one of those contests. Los Angeles failed to cover as a 7.5-point home favorite in a 101-97 win over the New Orleans Hornets Friday.
Now, the Lakers welcome the New York Knicks to Staples Center, one of the best road bets in the NBA. New York is 14-4 ATS in the role of visitor and is 4-1 against the spread in its last five trips to Los Angeles.
Pick: New York
Miami Heat at Portland Trail Blazers (+5, 184.5)
According to LeBron James, the Rose Garden in Portland Oregon should be rockin’ with “The Heatles” coming to town Sunday.
Miami continues its five-game, 10-day road swing against the Trail Blazers, coming off a close call against the Milwaukee Bucks Friday. The Heat escaped the Bradley Center with a 101-95 victory, extending their winning streak to eight games. It also marked the fourth time in the past five outings that Miami has played over the total.
The Heat trademark defense wasn’t as sharp as past outings, giving up a 16-point lead to Milwaukee. Over the past five games, opponents are averaging more than 98 points per game – over six points more than Miami’s season average for points allowed.
“You've got to find a way to win and that's what we did (Friday night) in an ugly game for us, a game that is very rare,'' Dwyane Wade told the Miami Herald. “We're building for the future. We're building for opportunities like this, to win games even when you don't play your best.''
The Heat take their show west, facing a Blazers squad that has played over the number in its last two games. Portland is finding its scoring touch, topping the century mark on the scoreboard in four of its past five contests.
The over is 6-2-1 in the last nine meetings between these clubs.
Pick: Over
NBA Odds: Ailing Lakers host NY Knicks
By: Michael Robinson
The ailing Los Angeles Lakers have been grinding out wins lately as they host the New York Knicks in a Sunday night encounter.
Los Angeles (26-11 straight up, 16-20-1 against the spread) suffered a three-game losing streak in late December, going 0-3 ATS with each defeat by at least 15 points. Two of those were much-hyped matchups against Miami and San Antonio. San Antonio (30-6) easily has the conference’s best record after L.A. held that distinction the last three years.
Questions started to be asked and Phil Jackson’s squad was ready to give answers/excuses. Kobe Bryant’s right knee has almost no cartilage left. Lamar Odom’s left shoulder is so bad that he might have to play right-handed. Mind you, those diagnoses were not from team doctors, but the players themselves.
Bryant and Odom didn’t seem too injured in their last game Friday night. Bryant scored 25 points and Odom added 17 points and 13 boards in a 101-97 win over New Orleans as 7 ½-point favorites. L.A. is 5-1 SU since the three-game losing steak, although just 2-3-1 ATS.
The Lakers have had issues scoring points lately. They were one of the NBA’s top scoring teams through November (108.8 PPG in 18 games). The last 19 contests have been completely different at 97.9 PPG.
The ‘under’ is 8-3 in L.A.’s last 11 home games and 19-7 in the last 26 overall.
Bench scoring is a part of the problem with the exception of Odom. Things could look even worse Sunday with reserve Matt Barnes (7.4 PPG) questionable after spraining his knee on Friday. Backup point Steve Blake also twisted his ankle and his status is up-in-the-air.
New York (21-14 SU, 23-11-1 ATS) is just happy to be on the national radar after playing under .500 ball the last nine seasons. Coach Mike D’Antoni’s squad is seven games behind Boston (28-7 SU) in the Atlantic Division standings, but is a comfortable playoff team at this point.
New York started this four-game road trip in great fashion on Friday, a 121-96 win over Phoenix as 2 ½-point ‘dogs. This was a homecoming for former coach D’Antoni and also big man Amare Stoudemire, who burned his old Suns teammates for 23 points.
The Knicks hit a whopping 17 three-pointers against Phoenix. They’re second in the league in three-point attempts (24.4 per game) and ninth in accuracy (37.5 percent).
D’Antoni’s fast-paced offense led to a lot of wins in Phoenix, but never an NBA Finals appearance. That’s why he was allowed to leave for New York. The Knicks are the highest scoring team in the league (108.1 PPG), although third-worst in points allowed (106.2 PPG).
Forward Danilo Gallinari (knee) has missed the last two games and is expected to be out a couple more weeks. The Knicks haven’t missed him offensively, putting up 128 points in their prior game against San Antonio on Tuesday (128-115 home win as 5 ½-point ‘dogs).
The Sunday strategy for the younger New York squad is simple. Push the ball on every possession against the older Lakers and try to get into a shootout. That strategy will work even better if Barnes and/or Blake are out.
This is the first meeting between Los Angeles and New York this year. The Lakers are 4-0 SU and 2-2 ATS since D’Antoni took over in the Big Apple (the ‘over’ going 3-1). However, the Knicks are 2-0 ATS in the SoCal games.
Tip-off from Staples Center will be 6:30 p.m. (PT) and broadcast locally.