Miami Heat vs Los Angeles Lakers NBA Lines Preview
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Miami Heat vs. LA Lakers NBA Lines
Date/Time: Saturday, December 25, 5 PM ET
Venue: STAPLES Center, Los Angeles, CA
Broadcast: ABC
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. L.A. Lakers Betting Lines
Spread: Lakers -2.5
Over/Under: 192
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Miami Heat vs. L.A. Lakers Preview
What a Christmas present to hoops junkies with the defending champion Lakers (21-8) hosting LeBron and Miami (22-9). At time of writing there are no lines posted for this big game.
In their last games the Heat beat the Phoenix Suns 95-83 on Thursday night and the Lakers lost to the Milwaukee Bucks 98-79 and in La La Land no less.
This season the Heat are 14-16-1 ATS and the Lakers are 14-15 ATS. The Heat are 9-1 in their last 10 games and the Lakers are 8-2 in their last 10 games.
Kobe Bryant was ejected in the Milwaukee game, but you can be sure that he will be ready for this game on national TV on Christmas Day facing LeBron and company. The Heat have the best defense in the league and they will be facing a Lakers’ offense that ranks 5th in scoring.
LeBron (24.7 ppg) will likely be guarded by Ron Artest in this game and that is a sweet match up. If Artest can force King James to score and not dish out the dimes then the Lakers will be in good shape. James leads the Heat in assists and Miami is very tough to beat when they have good ball movement.
While James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh have gelled and have learned to play together the Heat really have to worry about the Lakers on the boards. L.A. ranks 2nd in the league in rebounds per game and if Pau Gasol (11.1 rpg), Lamar Odom (9.9 rpg), and a healthy Andrew Bynum (4.6 rpg) kill the Heat on the glass they will win. Bosh, James, and Udonis Haslem will have to man the glass, but that will not be easy since Gasol and Bynum are a pair of 7-footers while Bosh is the tallest of the 3 Heat at 6’11”.
The Heat cannot allow Gasol, Odom, and Bynum from dominating them in the lane on offense, as well. The Lakers are very tough to beat if these guys get double-doubles and Miami will have to play physical with them and muscle them out of the lane.
The Lakers are more successful when Kobe (25.7 ppg) does not take a ton of shots. If he has good ball movement and does not have to take over the game on offense it gives L.A. a better chance to win.
Gasol is the one player that really creates match up problems for the Heat. Bosh will likely be counted on to stop him, but that is far from easy. Gasol is averaging 19.6 ppg and he has a ton of moves around the hoop.
The Lakers have had their defensive lapses and they need to keep Wade and James out of the lane and make them shoot the J.
The Heat play off their D and they will have to dictate the tone early and pressure the Lakers and not allow them to get into an offensive rhythm. If the Lakers can get out and run and not play a grind-out type of game they have a big advantage with all the scoring options they have.
In the loss to Milwaukee in their last game the Lakers allowed the Bucks to shoot 50.7% from the field and 57.1% from 3-point land and they must play better D in this game or they will lose. They also have to take care of the rock better against the stellar D of the Heat and in the loss to the Bucks the Lakers had 16 turnovers.
The Heat have the defense and King James, but the Lakers have the offense, are at home, and have the rings. They will show on Christmas that they are still the team to beat by banging the ball inside and playing good defense. Take the Lakers to win this game and even though the betting trends do not point to it they will cover the spread.
Betting Trends
Miami is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 road games and 10-3 ATS in their last 13 games and L.A. is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games vs. a team with a winning record.
Pick: Lakers
2 replies on “Christmas Day Heat vs. Lakers Gambling Prediction | NBA Odds”
Wow i hope you are right at this one because i already lost 20 euros betting on Celtics against Orlando.. I really do hope!! :/
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