Utah Jazz versus LA Lakers ESPN TV NBA Pro Basketball Sports Betting Odds Pick Preview

Published on April 2, 2010 by admin · No Comments

The Utah Jazz will travel to the west coast to face Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers in an NBA pro basketball game on Friday night. Tip off time from Staples Center in Los Angeles is scheduled for 10:35PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by ESPN.

The LVSC NBA odds makers have set the point spread in this game and it was the LA Lakers opening up as 4 point favorites with the over under coming in at 206.

The bettors came in early on the side of the favorite, as the LA Lakers are currently 5-point favorites. The total has seen the early movement on the side of the under, as the game is lined at 205.

Money line gamblers on the side of the favored LA Lakers will find –165 odds with the underdog Utah Jazz bringing back +145 to win this game without the benefit of getting points.

The teams are meeting for the fourth time this regular season. These Western conference foes first met back on December 9th in LA and it was the Lakers with the 101-77 blowout victory as 10 ½ point favorites. The Lakers held the Jazz to just 33.7% shooting. They then met on December 12th and it was the Utah Jazz with the 102-94 home victory as 2-point favorites. Utah had a good shooting night with 51.9% accuracy from the field. LA had an awful night from the three-point line hitting on just 3 of 21 from beyond the arc. They then met on February 10th and it was the Lakers with the 96-81 road victory as 5 ½ point underdogs. LA made 46.8% of their shots and the Jazz were miserable from the charity stripe making just 13 of 25.

The Lakers return home after dropping 3 of 5 on their 5 game road trip. The team dropped two straight to end the trip. The team sits with a 54-21 record and is 5 games ahead of the Utah Jazz in the loss column for the top spot in the Western Conference with only 7 games remaining. The Lakers play on the defensive end was fairly soft and passive at times on this road trip as the team did not body up and seemed to play trying to avoid injury as the playoffs inch closer and the Western Conference best record is nearly clinched. The Lakers were blown out by the Atlanta Hawks 109-92 as a 1-½ point underdog on Tuesday night. The team allowed Atlanta to torch them for 54.2% shooting from the field. In their three losses the Lakers allowed 48.1% or better shooting from the field by their opponent. Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 28 points on 12 of 21 shooting in the loss to Atlanta.

The Utah Jazz sits in the second seed as they are chasing the Lakers but they are trying to hold off the several teams in the West to keep their position. Utah is only 1 game ahead of the 5th seeded Denver Nuggets in a logjam in the Western Conference. The Jazz have won 8 of their past 10 games and are coming off a 128-104 blowout victory as 12 point home favorites against the Golden St Warriors on Tuesday night. They torched the Warriors for 52.9% shooting from the field. Utah has shot no worse than 51.2% over their past three games. Carlos Boozer had a solid game with 25 points on 12 of 14 shooting and 13 boards in victory. But Boozer has only averaged 11.3 points and 39.5% shooting in his three games against the Lakers this season.

Trend: LA Lakers are 8-3 ATS in their past 11 meetings in LA

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