NBA Picks

NBA Betting Trends

NBA – January 29th

The Los Angeles Lakers are hoping to start to get on a bit of a run, and they’ll try to do just that on Tuesday night at the Staples Center, where they will battle it out with the New Orleans Hornets.

It hasn’t been a great season for the Hornets, as they are just 15-29 and are clearly out of the chase for the playoffs in the Western Conference. The team has been a lot more competitive than in recent years at times, but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that this club is overmatched on a heck of a lot of nights. Generating offense is problematic at times. We do like what F Ryan Anderson brings to the table, but he just isn’t the type of man that you want leading your team in scoring. He is doing so at 17.0 points per game. G Eric Gordon is healthy once again, and he is just behind Anderson, averaging 16.8 points per game. F Anthony Davis is having a solid rookie campaign, though his progress isn’t quite what the team was hoping for. The defensive stopper has averaged 1.8 blocks and 1.2 steals per night, but his 7.8 rebounds and 12.8 points per game seem to be behind the curve just a bit from previous No. 1 overall picks in the NBA Draft.

Every game that the Lakers win seems to be the game that everyone wants to put them on a roll. We still need to see a heck of a lot more on a consistent basis for this club to think that it is back in contention again to get into the playoffs in the West. Wins over the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Utah Jazz were a nice start, though. Head Coach Mike D’Antoni is getting everything that he can out of G Kobe Bryant. Bryant is still one of the top scorers in the league at 28.7 points per game, but he really needs a massive amount of help from his teammates. F Pau Gasol isn’t exactly thriving off of the bench with 12.9 points per game, and the man replacing him, F Earl Clark hasn’t been anything to write home about either. C Dwight Howard looks like Superman at times and Clark Kent at others. In the end, 16.5 points and 12.0 boards per night just doesn’t cut it in Tinseltown.

Prediction:

Here we go again with the public overreacting to something that the Lakers did. Will LA win this game? There’s a distinct possibility that that is what happens. However, the Hornets are a good enough team and a gritty enough team to come on the road and at least put up a fight, and we think that’s exactly what they will ultimately do. Los Angeles 98 – New Orleans 94