Los Angeles Lakers at Houston Rockets 2010 NBA Preview, Odds, and Predictions: Head Coach Phil Jackson will try and turn his team around when the Los Angeles Lakers travel to the Toyota Center on Wednesday night to take on the Houston Rockets at 8:35 PM ET. The Lakers are on a 3 game skid but are still at 13-5 first in the Pacific while the Rockets are struggling at 5-12 5th in the Southwest but usually play the Lakers tough. The Rockets have had spots in games they appear to fall asleep giving up runs of at least 10-0 to 7 teams so far this season. “I worry more about the mental frame of mind for the players. I think it’s easy to start, when things don’t go your way, to kind of hang your head,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. “In this league, you can’t do that. I worry about that. The second thing is we seem to lose our focus. We do things great for six or seven minutes, then we just have a three-minute period we just don’t do it.” The odds makers at Bodog have the Los Angeles Lakers a -5 point favorite on the road against the Houston Rockets.
The Lakers have lost 3 consecutive most recently Tuesday night 98-96 to the Memphis Grizzlies to move to 9-9 ATS for the season. Shooting Guard Kobe Bryant poured in 29 points with 7 rebounds and 5 assist in 37 minutes of play to lead the Lakers. Pau Gasol recorded a double double with 15 points and 14 boards while Ron Artest scored 12 points. Lamar Odom also chipped in 8 points and 11 rebounds. ‘Third quarters have been a real problem for us, coming out and having the right energies. Carrying the attack,” Jackson said. ”We start games relatively well. Our bench has had a little of a struggle right now, and that’s the other denominator that’s probably common.” Vegas odds makers have the Los Angeles Lakers +175 to win the 2010-2011 NBA Championship.
The Rockets are coming off a loss 101-91 to the Dallas Mavericks moving to just 7-10 ATS for the season. Shooting guard Kevin Martin led the Rockets in scoring with 17 points but made just 4 of 15 shots 3 of those were threes. Jordon Hill came off the bench on an injured ankle and still scored 10 points and pulled down 8 boards. Houston is 5-10 ATS in their last 15 games when playing at home against LA Lakers and the total has gone UNDER in 6 of Houston’s last 9 games when playing LA Lakers. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 207 points combined of the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets.
I predict the Lakers end their slide with a win on the road!