Basketball Prop Betting – Phoenix point guard, Laker power forward are key players in Game 2

NBA playoff betting fans who watched Monday’s Game 1 of the Western Conference finals know that if the Phoenix Suns are going to have a chance to win, they will not only have to control Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom, which leaves an opening for Pau Gasol, but will also have to turn Steve Nash loose. As Game 2 gets underway on Wednesday at 9 PM ET on TNT, will Nash, who played just 28 minutes in Game 1, fill in the blanks with some points, and how will Gasol take advantage of Phoenix’s defensive alignment? Betting props have been constructed for both men, and we will examine them.

YOU WANT YOUR PROPS?
Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers
Western Conference Finals – Game 2
(Lakers lead 1-0)
Wednesday, May 19 – 9 PM ET
NBA Odds – Basketball Playoff Betting: L.A. LAKERS -7.5, Total 216

Betting Proposition
STEVE NASH – TOTAL POINTS
Over 18.5 Points -115
Under 18.5 Points -115

I had a pretty good friend once who, like me, was in the handicapping business. We used to appear on the same radio show, and on one of those shows he extolled the virtues of his service and referenced a particular Pac-10 football game that past weekend, where his side was the beneficiary of two turnovers, three horrific officials’ calls, a missed extra point and an onside kick in the last six minutes. Well, he won the game alright, but as I pointed out to him after the show, he was so lucky to have covered that game by a half a point that for him to use that as an example of how good a handicapper he was bordered on shameful.

That having been said, I feel like I am hardly in a position to brag about winning a proposition in which Steve Nash had 13 points and 13 rebounds for a combined total of 26, barely getting us an "under," where he sat out 20 minutes of the game. So we’re not going to brag.

What we are going to do, however, is use this as an example of what can happen when the Lakers and Suns get together. The Lakers may be the defending champs, but the Suns are the team that can’t defend THEM. You’re looking at a team that scored 128 points the other night, on 58% shooting, and has tallied an average of 115.5 points the last ten times they’ve played. The way that Game 1 was contested, I couldn’t, in all sincerity, rule out another Laker blowout. That might stick Nash on the bench again for an extended period. The Lakers appear to know how to keep Nash from becoming a point-scoring factor; you would actually have to go back to February 20, 2008 to find the last time Nash would have exceeded the number in this betting prop (18.5) against the Lakers.

JAY’S BETTING PLAY: UNDER 18.5 (-115) ***
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

Betting Proposition
PAU GASOL – TOTAL POINTS
Over 21.5 Points -125
Under 21.5 Points -105

Okay, I’ll brag about Lamar Odom. We had him going over the 17.5-mark for points plus rebounds in Monday’s betting prop, and damned if he didn’t exceed that total in both points AND rebounds. Odom had 19 of each against the Suns in Game 1, as the Phoenix defense just didn’t have a matchup that could slow him up. But we better brag about him now, because Odom has a tendency to disappear. That, plus the fact that Phoenix will naturally overcompensate for him in their defensive game plan, and this opens things up for Pau Gasol, who had 21 points but only four rebounds in the first game. Robin Lopez came back to the lineup for the Suns, and that helps, but Gasol’s matchup, if Bynum and/or Odom can occupy people, may still be Amare Stoudamire and that is clearly going to shift an advantage to the Spaniard. Gasol did not have trouble converting opportunities; he hit 10 of 13 shots on Monday night.

JAY’S BETTING PLAY: OVER 21.5 (-125) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)