{"id":20845,"date":"2012-01-05T15:18:33","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T20:18:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=20845"},"modified":"2012-01-05T15:18:33","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T20:18:33","slug":"nba-predictions-los-angeles-lakers-vs-portland-trail-blazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nba-predictions-los-angeles-lakers-vs-portland-trail-blazers-20845\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Predictions: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Lakers at Portland Trail Blazers
\nThursday, 1\/5\/12, 10:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 TNT
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Portland -3.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Portland -3.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 189.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 186.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Los Angeles Lakers are a dangerous underdog Thursday night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Los Angeles has won four of its last five games since dropping two in a row to start the season, as it faces a Western Conference rival Thursday night inside the Rose Garden.\u00a0 The Lakers have been thrilled with the recent play of young center Andrew Bynum, who has averaged 22.7 points and 17.0 rebounds over the past three games.\u00a0 \u201cWe all know the amount of talent he has, and he\u2019s really worked on it,\u201d stated Lakers guard Kobe Bryant.\u00a0 The Lakers won three of four meetings with the Blazers during the 2010-11 campaign, marking their first series victory since 2004-05.\u00a0 Los Angeles is 5-5 ATS as a road underdog of 3.5 to 6 points.<\/p>\n

The Lakers will still rely heavily on the play of Bryant in hostile territory, averaging 33.5 points in his last 15 games at the Rose Garden.\u00a0 Los Angeles has been happy with his performance since suffering a torn right wrist ligament during the exhibition season.\u00a0 Anybody that follows the NBA closely are aware of this franchise\u2019s problems on this particular road trip, facing a team that has won 13 of its last 14 home games.<\/p>\n

Portland has won 10 of its last 12 home games versus the Los Angeles Lakers and comes off a 103-93 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder as 4.5-point road underdogs.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s the way we\u2019re capable of playing,\u201d stated Trail Blazers guard Raymond Felton.\u00a0 Forward LaMarcus Aldridge is the main offensive weapon, averaging a team-best 19.8 points per game versus the Lakers a year ago.\u00a0 Another player to watch is Nicolas Batum coming off the bench, scoring 19.3 points per game in the series during the 2010-11 campaign.\u00a0 Portland is 7-16 ATS as a home favorite of 3.5 to 6 points.<\/p>\n

The Trail Blazers have scored better than 100 points in four of their first five games for the first time since the 1992-93 season.\u00a0 Portland has been very happy with point guard Raymond Felton, averaging 7.0 assists per contests while scoring 12.8 points per game.\u00a0 Aldridge has likely found his stride after a season-high 30-point performance against the Thunder last time out, as he was averaging 20.3 points coming into that contest.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve been tired,\u201d he stated after the game.\u00a0 \u201cThis is my second game feeling decent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Lakers due to the underdog being 22-8 ATS in the series, while the Blazers are 1-4-1 ATS as a home favorite of 4.5 points or less.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NBA handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles Lakers at Portland Trail Blazers Thursday, 1\/5\/12, 10:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 TNT Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Portland -3.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Portland -3.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 189.5 Current Total:\u00a0 186.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Los Angeles has won four of its last five games since dropping two in a row to start the season, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":15668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[795,67,3303,68,18,830,3914],"class_list":["post-20845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-andrew-bynum","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-lamarcus-aldridge","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-portland-trail-blazers","tag-rose-garden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20846,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20845\/revisions\/20846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}