Posted on 1/11/2008 3:58:52 PM

NBA Sunday Wagering - Memphis (predict: + 14) vs. Los Angeles (predict: - 14)

By D.S. Williamson

The Lakers are hot. This game comes down to whether or not Friday’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks takes too much out of the Lakers.

I doubt it. The Lakers are one of the top teams in the NBA. NBA bettors know this because they should be watching a lot of NBA games. The Lakers play defense about as well as anybody and with the presence of Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum, and LaMar Odom, can score from almost anywhere on the court. They’ve also got some great utility personnel in Trevor Ariza and Luke Walton.

Since trends are hard to come by for a Sunday game, I like to take a peek at the last four games and try to come up with some sort of trend on my own:

In four of their last five games the Los Angeles Lakers have beaten their opponents by an average of 23 points.

Since I do not know the outcome of the fifth game in this stretch, on Friday night, I have left them out of this trend. What does this trend tell me? First, it tells me that the Los Angeles Lakers are a very, very good team. Winning four games in a row is difficult enough in the NBA. Winning four games in a row by an average of 23 points is down-right New Englandish.

Among those four teams that the Los Angeles Lakers beat were the very same Memphis Grizzlies that they play on Sunday and the New Orleans Hornets. The Hornets are a solid team and the fact that the Lakers beat them by 29 points on the road just adds to the love that NBA bettors should be showering on the Lakshow this year.

The Lakers have a chance of winning the Western Conference outright as the Phoenix Suns don’t appear to possess that killer instinct, the Dallas Mavericks just aren’t as good as the Lakers, and the San Antonio Spurs may finally be showing their age.

If I’m willing to write that, what chance do I actually give the Grizzlies on Sunday? Not much of one.

The predicted BetUS NBA Betting line is Los Angeles Lakers – 14 against the spread at home versus the Memphis Grizzlies.

I like the Lakers to cover a spread all the way up to 16.5 in this one. That’s how much better they are than the Grizzlies.

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