NBA Betting Preview: Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers

Added on Oct 26, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

The other big game on the opening night NBA slate will be out West, where the Los Angeles Lakers will receive their championship rings and hang yet another title banner from the Staples Center rafters. They’ll also play a basketball game, with the Houston Rockets providing the opposition. The game will be televised nationally on TNT.

Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers
October 26, 2010 7:30 PM Pacific

It’s strange that the defending NBA Champion having experienced no significant personnel losses in the offseason begins the year as an underdog to repeat. Yet that’s exactly where the Los Angeles Lakers are heading into the 2010-2011 season. All the hype is back East, where the Miami Heat and LeBron James have been tabbed as the favorites to take the Lakers’ crown. In the big picture, we think this–combined with the fact that it’s going to be head coach Phil Jackson’s last year at the helm–will give the Lakers exceptional motivation to defend.

The Lakers return essentially the entire roster from last year’s championship team including the most important components, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. The supporting cast is also intact, though somewhat banged up due to injury—the most significant of these is Andrew Bynum, who could miss several months of the season recovering from knee surgery. With the exception of Bynum, however, the only key contributor not expected to play on opening night is Luke Walton who is listed as ‘doubtful’ due to his hamstring injury.

Houston is finally going to get Yao Ming back in the lineup after he missed the entire 2009-2010 season due to foot surgery. He’ll be brought along slowly (he’s already listed as ‘doubtful’ for Wednesday’s game at Golden State) but there are bigger questions about his longterm durability and how much he’ll be able to contribute to the team. It could be a case where injury notwithstanding he’s on the downside of his career. The Rockets very quickly became competitive in his absence due to the emergence of Luis Scola as a NBA superstar. He’s back and along with Yao’s return the Rockets added Shane Battier who’ll likely be in the starting lineup tonight.

The Lakers will have a big ceremony before the game to present their championship rings and raise yet another banner into the Staple Center’s rafters. This is significant because these ceremonies often serve as motivation for the visiting team. No team likes to be in a role where they’re the ‘afterthought’—and the opening night TNT broadcast isn’t there to see the Rockets. Although the Lakers have controlled the series of late, winning and covering 6 of the last 8 at home they could be in for a tough fight tonight. Houston beat the Lakers on opening night of the 2008-2009 season, and it could happen again here. At any rate, we expect a strong effort from the visitors and will gladly take Houston plus the points.

Bet Houston Rockets +7′ over Los Angeles Lakers