Kobe vs. Durant – Lakers at Thunder

The Los Angeles Lakers (46-10 SU) are in Oklahoma City tonight to take on the pitiful Thunder (13-43 SU). Oklahoma has been struggling all season both at home and away, perhaps their only silver lining this season has been the outstanding play by Kevin Durant.

Durant is averaging 26.2 points per game, good enough for 4th best in the association behind the likes of Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, and Tuesday night’s opponent Kobe Bryant. Entering the league as a scrawny kid out of the Texas Longhorns program, Durant didn’t dominate offensively right away. His lack of success banging bodies with the stronger defenders he was facing forced his game to more of a perimeter shooters roll. As with the case of most significant athletic improvements, the drastic increase in the kid’s confidence has been more than obvious.

He is playing a sweet swingman style of pushing the ball up court with speed and using his tremendous leaping ability to score high percentage shots, dunking on opponents. Durant had a coming out party at the All-Star weekend Rookie-Sophomore game when he won MVP for scoring a weekend record 46 points in the game and lead the sophomores to a victory over the rookies.

The Lakers enter the contest having won 4 in a row, while the Thunder is heading in the opposite direction having dropped their last 5 games. The Thunder have allowed over 100 points in each of those losses, including 133 and 140 in the past 2. The Lakers have been scoring points of late to get their wins, averaging 112 points in their last 5 games. The BetOnline Sportsbook has the Lakers as a 8.5 point favorite and the over/under is 222.5 points. Both teams score a lot of points and as a result of that up tempo style they also allow a lot of points scored against. Based on the recent trend of high-scoring games these 2 teams have been involved with, the over/under should be reached easily.

The Lakers have won 9 of 10 games since Andrew Bynum went down with an injury, and they have been in most impressive fashion. Lamar Odum is finally playing to his potential, and with Kobe Bryant surrounded with top-notch talent the Lakers are head-and-shoulders above the rest in the West. Although it will definitely not be an easy road to the finals, the Los Angeles Lakers are everybody’s favorite to repeat as Western Conference champions.

NBA free pick: Los Angeles Lakers (-8.5) and Over 222.5 points