East meets West – NJ Nets vs. LA Lakers

BetOnline NBA Basketball Sports Betting Odds: L.A. LAKERS -7, Total 205.5

Here are some of the NBA pro basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* LA has won seven of its last eight games SU

* LA has won its last five road games SU

* NJ is 3-5-1 ATS in its last nine games

* NJ has lost six of its last eight games SU

* NJ has played 13 of its last 19 games OVER the total

* NJ has played four of its last five games UNDER the total

* NJ is 5-1-1 ATS in its last seven home games

* NJ has played six of its last nine home games OVER the total

Also…

* LA has won four of the last five meetings SU

* LA is 4-0-1 ATS in the last five meetings

* LA has won four of the last five meetings SU as the road team

* Five of the last six meetings in East Rutherford have gone UNDER the total

* LA has had the shooting edge in four of the last six meetings

* LA has had the rebounding edge in four of the last six meetings

* LA has made more three-pointers in six of the last seven meetings

New Jersey has two of the top scorers in league in Devin Harris and Vince Carter, along with a very promising rookie center in Brook Lopez. Then why, in a conference with a lot of mediocrity, do they find themselves on the outside looking in, sitting in 11th place in the East, a half game behind a Milwaukee club that is missing its two best players and four full games away from the 8th and final playoff spot?

The reasons, I guess, are plenty. Aside from Lopez, some of the youngsters are taking a while to develop. Yi Jianlian has not been anything to get excited about. The Nets are not getting much offense out of the forward positions. They also have not been consistent at all at home, where they have lost 20 of their 35 games. Another reason that has manifest itself lately is that Harris has missed some time with a shoulder injury, but after sitting out five games he is expected to be available on Friday. Keyon Dooling has not been half-bad in his place, averaging 14.8 ppg and 7.2 assists.

Harris said he still feels a little stiffness in his shoulder, but it is something that he’ll get over as he starts to play. There’s no telling how effective he’ll be right off the bat, and there is not a big margin of error against this Laker team which has shown no letup as they duel it out with Cleveland for the NBA’s best record. Los Angeles has won its last five road games, and one of those was against the Bulls, who have otherwise been red-hot at the United Center. In the last two, they have beaten the Thunder and Pistons by a combined 33 points.

Jianlian has shot just 25% in his last eight games, and he is going to be a defensive liability no matter if he is guarding Pau Gasol or Lamar Odom, who has exceeded his season average in each of the last five games. The Lakers are not bad in the resiliency department, as they have covered 11 of 16 when playing the back end of back-to-back games. We respect New Jersey’s 5-1-1 ATS record in its last seven at home, but the matchups don’t play too well for them here, and L.A. is 26-9 SU as a traveler. We’ll lay the points with the Lakers, the seven-point favorite in the BetOnline NBA pro basketball sports betting odds.

JAY’S PLAY: L.A. LAKERS -7 **

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)