Everything seems to be back to normal in La-La Land, at least for the time being.
While many were beginning to jump off the Los Angeles Lakers’ bandwagon prior to Tuesday’s Game 5, Kobe Bryant didn’t seem concerned about blowing a 2-0 series lead to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Who said our backs are against the wall?” Bryant asked when questioned by the Los Angeles Times before Game 5.
“It’s a 2-2 series. What the hell is going on around here?”
Although the momentum seemed to be swinging in the Thunder’s direction, the Lakers showed the new kids on the playoff block who was in charge.
While Kobe did have a solid game, he had modest point totals, going 4 of 9 from the field for 13 points but his teammates were there to contribute as well.
Power forward Pau Gasol led the Lake Show with 25 points, center Andrew Bynum was close behind with 21 and the Lakers came away with a 111-87 win, covering as 6-point home favorites.
The momentum seems to have swung again but who will be the victor when the two meet in Oklahoma City on Friday?
Online sportsbooks have the Lakers as 1.5-point road ‘dogs with the Total is set at 195.
Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Trends:
The Lakers are a study of opposites in their last nine overall games against the Thunder, going 6-3 straight up but going 3-6 against the spread at the same time.
In the Lakers’ last nine road games, they aren’t impressive either way, going 2-7 SU and 3-6 ATS and six of their last eight road games have gone Over while two have gone Under the Total.
In the Purple and Gold’s last 20 games when listed as an underdog of 2-points or less, they are 14-6 both SU and ATS.
SPORTSBETTING.com’s manager, Brian Taylor, said the betting action in Game 5 favored the Lakers about 60-40, but so far the early action on Game 6 is tilted to the home team Thunder, with 63% of all the volume on the small favorite.
Dallas vs. San Antonio
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban hasn’t been shy when expressing his hatred for the San Antonio Spurs and he must’ve been fuming prior to Game 5 of the series.
The Mavs were down 3-1 in the series but managed to stay alive with a 103-81 victory on Tuesday night — covering as 5-point home faves.
The Dallas Mavericks could take the series the distance with a win Thursday in San Antone; the Spurs are 3.5-point faves for that game and the Over/Under is at 191.
The Mavs have been very good for bettors on the road as of late, posting a record of 10-3-1 ATS (10-4 straight up in those games).
The Spurs are only 6-13-1 ATS in their last 20 games when hosting the Dallas Mavericks.
The Spurs are also 10-2 SU and 9-2-1 ATS in their last 12 home games.
The betting action is evenly split so far, with the underdog Mavs getting a slight edge at 54% of all the volume.
Enjoy all the b-ball playoff action.
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Bovada Sportsbook •
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