Online NBA Betting 2011 - Can The Lakers Threepeat?
The sports betting soap opera known as the Los Angeles Lakers has made it to the second round to face the Dallas Mavericks and hoop bettors have to be aware that they have showed signs of concentration of late. A thing that doesn’t always happen in LaLa land.
The Lakers split with Dallas this year but won the last 2 contests, the last by 28 points. That win was after a tough loss in Miami in the prior game.
Los Angeles failed to cover the first 2 games but did the rest of the series.
In that blowout win, nobody in Texas was going to stop Andrew Bynum as he went 6 for 9 from the floor and posted a double/double. Tyson Chandler was in foul trouble and is clearly not looking for this fight.
Expect more of that menu as the NBA playoffs move on and the 2011 Kentucky Derby betting picks up. When healthy, Bynum is one of the beasts in the league and he knows what it takes to win. In the playoffs last year, he basically was on one leg but still gutted in out.
As far as match-ups are concerned, you have basically a wash at the point guard with both Derek Fisher and Jason Kidd doing exactly what their teams need just about night after night.
Deshawn Stevenson and Kobe will go at it as two guards and although there is a huge edge to Kobe, Stevenson is a tough defender and an underrated scorer.
Ron Artest, who is playing great of late, should be able to muscle Shawn Marion on most nights while Pau Gasol will have to stay out of foul trouble guarding Dirk Nowitzki.
Dallas has one quality guy coming off the pine and that’s Jason Terry. He could start for at least 20 teams in the league and brings a spark plug mentality to the hardwood. Shannon Brown will have to attempt to match his intensity and one way he may be able to do it is to go to the hoof aggressively.
Lamar Odom, who won the 6th Man of the Year Award, can’t be covered when he is right. He can play all 5 positions and when everybody on the Lakers just plays okay, and he plays great, they are nearly unbeatable.
Matt Barnes, a poor man’s Artest and Steve Blake will fill minor roles but expect this series to be physical. These teams got into the last time they played as Terry was in Blake’s face.
Dallas doesn’t want to fight a team that has Ron Artest calling the shots.
For the hoop bettor, expect some close games. During the season each team won once by 5 points. Dallas won their other game by 9 and then of course, the Lakers had the blowout game.
The key contest for Los Angeles will be the first sports betting bonus game in Texas. That is game traditionally where Phil Jackson’s teams have sent a message and look for the Lakers to cover in that situation.
Even though Chandler gives Dallas some toughness and a new defensive identity, look for the Lakers to win the series in 6 and continue on the road to history.
