San Antonio Spurs at L.A. Lakers Betting Odds


Opening Betting Line : Spurs +6.5 / Lakers -6.5
Over/Under : 194

Time: 10:30 PM ET, April 12, 2011 on TNT

The Lakers look to avoid their longest losing streak in 4 years tonight hosting the San Antonio Spurs, who look to lock up the best record in the league. L.A. looked as if they would be locked into the 2nd seed, but they have lost 5 straight and are now in the 3rd spot half a game behind the Dallas Mavericks. The Spurs were reeling a couple weeks back when they lost 6 in a row, but they have won 4 straight and their offense has been en fuego averaging 111.5 ppg in that span.

In their last games the Spurs beat the Utah Jazz 111-102 and the Lakers lost to the Portland Trailblazers 120-106.

San Antonio has been a better betting team on the season, as they are at 44-34-2 ATS and the Lakers are at 37-42-1 ATS.

This season the Lakers are is 29-11 at home and the Spurs are 25-14 on the road.

The Lakers’ defense was terrible in their last loss to the Thunder allowing them to shoot over 55% from the floor, but they have played solid against the Spurs holding them to 39.9% shooting in 3 games against them this season. The Spurs have won 2 of 3 against the Lakers, but L.A. won the last game.

The Lakers have played good D on 2 of the 3 big guns of the Spurs holding Manu Ginobili to only 9.7 ppg on 28.2% shooting and Tim Duncan to 12 points in the 3 games, but Tony Parker has averaged 19.3 ppg against the Lakers this season.

Kobe Bryant will get his points, but he needs help in this game facing a solid Spurs’ defense. In the loss to the Thunder Bryant and Pau Gasol combined for 57 points, but the 3 other starters and 6th man Lamar Odom struggled.

The Lakers are a better rebounding team ranking 3rd in the league in boards per game and if Pau Gasol (10.1 rpg), Andrew Bynum (9.5 rpg), and Lamar Odom (8.7 rpg) can control the glass and they play good D L.A. should snap their 5-game losing streak.

Tony Parker (17.6 ppg 6.6 assists per game) has to control the tempo and the Spurs need to use good ball movement and in an interesting trend when they have at least 22 assists in a game they are 42-1 on the season.

In some other betting trends for this Western Conference rivalry:

San Antonio is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against teams with a winning S.U. record and they have an Over record of 4-1 in their last 5 road games.

L.A. is 2-7 ATS in their last 9 home games, 13-6 ATS in their last 19 games against teams with a winning S.U. record, and they have an Under record of 5-1 in their last 6 games.

The road team is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 games between these 2 teams and in the last 7 games in L.A. between the 2 the total has gone Under every time.

Our Selection : Seasoned bettors know that wagering on a team that "has to win" is certainly not a guaranteed profitable angle. So, we're going to stay away from a point spread wager. Instead we're going to look at the total. The Spurs have been playing loose defense as of late and their scoring has been great with 4 out of their last 5 games over 100 points. Take Over 194 points at 5Dimes and get reduced juice on every bet!!


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