{"id":22898,"date":"2012-04-29T08:11:06","date_gmt":"2012-04-29T13:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=22898"},"modified":"2012-04-29T08:11:07","modified_gmt":"2012-04-29T13:11:07","slug":"nba-playoffs-2012-denver-nuggets-vs-los-angeles-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nba-playoffs-2012-denver-nuggets-vs-los-angeles-lakers-22898\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Playoffs 2012: Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers
\nSunday, 4\/29\/12, 3:35 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 ABC
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Los Angeles -4.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Los Angeles -4.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 202.5
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 201.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Lakers<\/a>
The Los Angeles Lakers are 2-10 ATS in their last 12 games as a home favorite<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Denver won eight of its final 10 games to earn the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference for the 2012 NBA playoffs, as the team also finished with a winning 18-15 mark on the road.\u00a0 The Nuggets will not be intimidated in this series, capturing seven of the last 12 regular season meetings with the Lakers, but only four of 29 on the road in this series.\u00a0 \u201cThey have more talent than we probably have,\u201d commented Nuggets head coach George Karl.\u00a0 \u201cI think we rely on teamwork more than they do.\u201d\u00a0 Denver is 8-1 as a road underdog of 3.5 to 6 points, with the \u201cover\u201d being 5-4 in that situation.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets are extremely balanced offensively with four starters averaging in double figures, with point guard Ty Lawson leading the way in averaging 16.4 points per game.\u00a0 Denver paced the entire NBA in scoring 104.1 points per game, finishing with a winning record for the ninth straight season.\u00a0 The franchise has advanced beyond its opening series seven times (7-15), which pales in comparison to Los Angeles going 26-7 in its 33 attempts in the first round.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles definitely used the Staples Center to its advantage over the course of the 2011-12 campaign, finishing with a 26-7 overall record, including a 19-5 mark versus Western foes.\u00a0 The Lakers are led by star guard Kobe Bryant, who finished second in the NBA in averaging 27.9 points per game, but they also have an All-Star center that\u2019s enjoying his best season as a pro.\u00a0 Andrew Bynum averaged 18.7 points and 11.8 rebounds during the regular season.\u00a0 Los Angeles is 5-6 as a home favorite of 3.5 to 6 points, while the \u201cover\u201d is 8-3 in that situation.<\/p>\n

The Lakers won season series with the Nuggets, 3-1, which included two wins at today\u2019s venue.\u00a0 Total players will definitely take note that all four games this year went \u201cunder\u201d the total.\u00a0 Los Angeles definitely knows the importance of winning Game 1, as teams that have accomplished that feat in best-of-seven series are 330-93 (.780) to advance to the next round.\u00a0 The Lakers are a dominating 76-17 in postseason home games since moving to the Staples Center before the 1999-2000 season.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Nuggets due to their 25-8 ATS mark as a road underdog, while the Lakers are 2-10 ATS as a home favorite.<\/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":"

Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers Sunday, 4\/29\/12, 3:35 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 ABC Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Los Angeles -4.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Los Angeles -4.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 202.5 Current Total:\u00a0 201.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Denver won eight of its final 10 games to earn the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":3933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[6680,526,67,68,3624,3693],"class_list":["post-22898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-2012-nba-playoffs","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-staples-center","tag-western-conference"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22898","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=22898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22899,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22898\/revisions\/22899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}