Friday NBA Betting – Lakers Will Handle Nuggets…Again
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Team records:
Denver: 33-16 SU, 22-25-2 ATS
Los Angeles: 38-12 SU, 22-27-1 ATS
Betting Odds: Lakers listed as 8½-point favorites
Next up: Denver at Utah, Saturday, February 6 — LA Lakers at Portland, Saturday, February 6
The Denver Nuggets would like to prove a point. While most people don’t believe it, they would like to prove that they are in fact an elite team in the NBA and they are in fact a threat to the reigning NBA Champions. On Friday, they’ll get a chance to do it as they head to the Staples Center to face the Los Angeles Lakers. It could be an interesting battle between the two teams, who faced each other in the Western Conference Finals last season, as both franchise players on both teams might miss the contest.
Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant, two of the leading scorers in the NBA, are dealing with ankle sprains and both may miss the contest.
The Nuggets are 7-4 this year without Anthony but if both stars are out on Friday, the edge still goes to the Lakers, who have more depth.
What’s Happening With The Nuggets
Anthony has missed six straight games and while the Nuggets have been decent without him, they surely missed him on Wednesday. The Nuggets lost at home for the fourth time this season when the Phoenix Suns outran them at the Pepsi Center. In the Nuggets previous game, they needed overtime to get past the Sacramento Kings.
The Nuggets are capable of treading water without Anthony but the reality is that they are nowhere the same team as when he is around. They will have some problems with the Lakers on Friday if they don’t play a perfect game.
What’s Happening With the Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off a tight, two-point win over the Charlotte Bobcats in a contest where Kobe Bryant was held to just five points. The Lakers have actually been more of the Kobe Bryant’s recently opposed to an NBA Championship team. An injury to Bryant could be exactly what they need.
Bryant took 28 of the team’s 73 shots on Monday to become the franchise’s all-time leading scorer and after the game, Pau Gasol said that now “the team can get back to winning games”. Clearly, Gasol feels the team should be feeding the big men a little more and a night or two without Bryant, which is entirely likely on Friday, could really help the Lakers get back to their inside-outside game.
Outlook:
The Nuggets don’t match up well with the Lakers because their men on the inside just aren’t the same caliber. Without the two star guards in the lineup, the focus will be on the interior scorers and Gasol and Andrew Bynum are simply better than Nene and Kenyon Martin. The Lakers will defend their home court on Friday night.
Pick: Lakers
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Dave Golokhov has written for BETUS Sportsbook, Sportsfanmagazine.com, FOX, Askmen.com, Sports-central.org, and the FOXSports.com Funhouse.
