posted February 8, 2008 at 18:45 in NBA Free Picks

The Lakers have improved by trading for Pau Gasol while the jury is still out on the Heat. There is no doubt in my mind that Miami will improve with the addition of Shawn Marion. Enough to beat the predicted BetUS spread of at least 8.5 points? I’m not sure about that.

Here are some trends (as of today!):

The Los Angeles Lakers have gone 6-3-1 against the spread in their last 10 games.

The Los Angeles Lakers have gone 5 and 1 against the spread in their last 6 games overall.

The Miami Heat have gone 3-6-1 against the spread in their last 10 games.

The Miami Heat have gone 1-4-1 against the spread in their last 6 games.

The Heat pulled the trigger on Shaq because they had not idea what else to do. Pat Riley brought a championship to the Heat. Now, they have to rebuild ala the Florida Marlins a few year back in baseball. Don’t be surprised if this team puts together a package to get rid of Dwayne Wade this summer. There’s something in the water out there in Miami!

Anyhow, what Marion does for this team, in this particular game, is take away Kobe Bryant. Of course, that won’t matter because the Lakers made the even bigger move of securing super-stud inside man Pau Gasol. At this point in their careers Pau Gasol is actually a better player offensively then Shaq. Nobody on the Heat will be able to guard this guy - - unless, of course, it’s Marion.

So, if Marion is on Gasol and Wade takes Kobe, what’s left? An under game? Maybe. More than likely the rest of the Lakes will just go crazy on the new look Heat. That’s what I see.

Marion will make a difference, but he wasn’t happy playing for the Suns because he wasn’t the go-to-guy. Well, Shawn, get used to being number two in this offense as well because there is no way that Dwayne Wade doesn’t get his shots.

Marion’s defense will be profound in this game. Unfortunately for the Heat he can’t guard two guys.

I do believe that the BetUS line will fall somewhere between 8.5 and 10.5 points. And I do think that the Lakes will cover.

The predicted BetUS NBA Betting line is Los Angeles Lakers – 8.5 against the spread versus the Miami Heat.

I like the Lakers to cover all the way up to 10.5. I think they are that much better than the Miami Heat.

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