NBA: Spread makes Lakers the pick over Thunder
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Los Angeles take on Oklahoma City in front of the BT Sport cameras tonight and despite recently securing a solid win over the Thunder, the Staples Center outfit are given an extremely generous head start in the Points Spread market.
Backing the Lakers (+16.5) looks a steal at 10/11 given their 114-110 win over Scott Brooks’ men just four days ago.
Add in home wins for the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks over Houston and Milwaukee respectively and that makes a tasty treble paying out at odds of over 7/1.
A £10 stake on this trio could mean healthy returns of £85.65.
That a record of 6-17 from their last 23 represents an improvement for the Lakers (22-42) gives you an idea of the season that Mike D’Antoni’s men have endured.
The Staples Center outfit’s recent win over the Thunder (47-17) was just the second in nine meetings with Scott Brooks’ side and with the Thunder 5-0 from five games hosting the Californians, another home victory looks more than likely.
However, that 114-110 win on Sunday does show that the Lakers should not be ignored at +16.5-points.
Scoring has not been the Lakers’ problem this season and with Jodie Meek pouring in 42 points against the Thunder last time, a runaway victory for the Thunder is hard to envision.
Desire should be the main driving force in this encounter and with the Bucks (13-51) done for the year and Atlanta’s (27-35) play-off hopes dwindling the home side should have more motivation.
A win over Utah last time out ended a 1-14 skid for the Hawks and with the Bucks 1-13 from 14 on the road the hosts can be relied upon to deliver the goods.
The spread may look on the large side but with Kyle Korver leading by example from beyond the arc, a high scoring display looks likely.
Korver hit all four of his three-point attempts as the Hawks shot 13 from 29 against the Jazz to give them a single season record for hitting 10 or more in games.
In-form Houston (44-20) have enjoyed their recent meetings with Chicago (35-29), winning four of the last five and seven of their last 10 trips to the United Center.
However, Tom Thibodeau’s men boast arguably the league’s strongest all-round player on current form and Joakim Noah is the reason the Windy City residents are backed here.
The Frenchman has averaged 14.3 points, 11.1 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 2.1 blocks in helping the Bulls go 11-4 over the last month.
This match pits one of the strongest defenses (the Bulls let up an average of 92) against one of the NBA’s strongest offences (Houston score an average 106 per game) but with the home crowd behind them, we’re picking the D to win out on the night.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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