Posted on 3/11/2008 7:22:07 PM

NBA Betting Furious Free Picks – Raptors Roar In To Los Angeles

By Tim Furious

Toronto Raptors (34-28) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (44-19)

Tuesday, March 11th --- STAPLES Center, LA --- 10:30pm EST

NBA Betting Line: Lakers -11.5 (212.5)

If there’s anyone that Kobe Bryant loves playing more than Lebron and Cleveland, it’s the Toronto Raptors. And with Chris Bosh sidelined indefinitely, it’s hard to imagine the Raptors being able to slow down KB24 and Pau Gasol even remotely. Toronto’s 1-5 ATS record over the past 5 games has been brutal and they are only 2-4 SU in their past 6 games. It is evident that they miss Bosh, but they will certainly miss him when Pau and Kobe are screening around each other and slicing the Raptors apart.

The Lakers are coming off a devastating loss to the Sacramento Kings in a game where they were favored by -14. Kobe Bryant missed the buzzer beater that could have iced the game for the Lakers. That’s just the motivation he needs to go ahead and drop another 83-point performance on Toronto. The Lakers last played Toronto on the first of February, and were manhandled at home in a 121-101 thrashing.

The Lakers average 108.2 points per game and stiffen up for 100.7 points against. Toronto plays sound defense and has a deep bench that doesn’t have a weak link, but this team is average without Bosh. They need to shoot the lights out to beat the Lakers, but that simply won’t happen. Not on the road, anyways. Toronto is 1-3-1 ATS when playing the Lakers in their last 5 meetings.

Considering how well the Lakers are playing as of late, and with Toronto Bosh-less, it’s hard to imagine Kobe not going absolutely ballistic against Toronto as he always does. With Lebron edging him in the MVP talks these days, Kobe needs a monster performance to put his name in the headlines. And while we’re at it, let’s talk about this whole MVP debate for a second.

Without getting in to too much detail, there is no way Kobe deserves the MVP this year. He phoned in the first two months of the season, was a horrible teammate by throwing Bynum under the bus, and nearly tried to force a trade before the season even started. Yes I know he’s got 28.1 points per game, 6.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game but how can you bestow an honor on Kobe like this when the above happened in the same season? You can’t. You simply can’t.

Lebron has played at a higher level in a weaker conference, but he’s done it with a better attitude. You don’t simply give this award to Kobe because he’s never received it before. And you certainly don’t give it to him because the Lakers were able to fleece Chris Wallace in Memphis in to giving away Pau Gasol, which made Kobe happy enough to play at a championship level. This debate should be down to Lebron and Chris Paul, in my opinion. But now that I’ve said all this, Kobe will probably drop 100-points on Toronto tonight…

NBA Free Picks: Lakers -11.5 (OVER)

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