Detroit Pistons AT Los Angeles Lakers
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 at 10:35 PM EST
Opening Line: L.A. -13
Current Line: L.A. -12
Opening Total: 194
Current Total: 196
Opening Moneyline: L.A. -1300 / Detroit +850
Current Moneyline: L.A. -1450 / Detroit +850
The Lakers continue their mediocre play. On Sunday they got blown out by the less than stellar Memphis Grizzlies and they have won 6 of their past 10, with Kobe Bryant struggling. Dominique Wilkins hinted that age is becoming a factor for Bryant, who clearly lacks the explosiveness he once had. Fortunately for L.A., Detroit is an easy team to remedy your maladies against and expectantly, NBA oddsmakers have taken this into account, setting the line in double figures at -13 to open betting.
Bynum expressed his concern over the recent play, “We’re not really playing together, and as a result, it’s costing us, Right now, we’ve got to be concerned. We have to be. … Good teams are looking at us like we’re soft.”
The Lakers’ age is starting to show. They have six players that have been in the league for 12 years or more, and Bryant is first and foremost in that group. He commented, “We’ve just got to come out focused and ready to play, It’s tough when you have to try to regenerate that energy every single night. It starts individually. You have to look at yourself and try to find things to get you going.”
Some betting trends:
Detroit has lost 4 of their last 5 and 11 of their last 12 on the road. They are 1-6 ATS in their last 7 against L.A. and the total has gone UNDER in 7 of their last 9 against the Lakers. They have lost 4 of their last 5 to L.A. and the total has gone OVER in 5 of their last 7 against L.A. They have lost 13 of their last 18 at the Staples Center, as well.
The total has gone UNDER in 17 of the last 23 Laker games. They are 2-4 over their last 6 games and 1-5 ATS in those games. The total has gone UNDER in 7 of the last 9 home games for L.A. and they have won 19 of their past 25 at home. They are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 at home.
Some key matchups:
Ben Gordon & Rip Hamilton vs Kobe Bryant
Kobe has been struggling, but this might be just the matchup to take him out of it. Gordon plays almost no defense at all and Rip Hamilton isn’t half the defender he was during Detroit’s glory days last decade. Gordon hasn’t been the same since he left Chicago, and is only averaging 12.2 points a night in 27 minutes of play. He’s still effective from deep, hitting 40.5% from three, but he’s not even averaging 10 field goal attempts per game, which is perplexing given his offensive prowess and Detroit’s problems scoring points (they average just 95.4 per game). Hamilton has looked sluggish at times, and then he’ll go on a run and score like he used to — he’s unpredictable and could be the wild card for the Pistons.
Ben Wallace vs. Pau Gasol
Gasol has been tearing up everyone this year, but Ben Wallace is actually still a pretty good defender, despite having lost most of his atleticism. He now uses his strength to push players out of their comfort zone and still has a knack for knowing where rebounds are going to fall. He’ll need that against Gasol, who is averaging 3.5 offensive rebounds per game. Detroit is the worst rebounding team in the league though, so it will take a collective effort on all parts to prevent Gasol from punishing them on the glass.
Tonight’s game probably won’t be very close. Detroit is 3-15 on the road this year and the Lakers will be focused on avenging their poor play of late.
