NBA 4th of January

[Regnavetto]

LAC to bt. LAL (-4.5 handicap) 1.95 @ Bet 365 Look at those odds. To me these represent pure value. Clippers looking to bounce back from 2 back-to-back losses, but trying to extend their winstreak at home. They face their fellow city rival, the Lakers. Who are still trying to get everything on track. For the Lakers this is crunch time. They enter the Clippers game knowing they're going to have 5 hard matches in 8 days. Clippers, Nuggets, Rockets, Spurs and OKC. However with the elite team they have, they're still not playing up to par. Bryant has openly criticized his own team, while Nash and Gasol have also openly said that they don't feel each other's play as of yet. Something like this doesn't get fixed over the weekend. It still needs a lot of work to gel. For me it doesn't help that D'Antoni wants to play an up-tempo formation with this squad. It only fits Nash, and maybe Kobe, but the others are just too frikkin' slow. They face a team that can absolutely thrash them on an athletic level. Young, strong, swift and athletic are keywords when I think of the Clippers. If Lakers were game, and they understood each other, I'm sure they could be really cunning and find a way to outsmart teams. But in the state they're in, they aren't even play-off worthy if you ask me. I have a lot of confidence that Lakers will be back soon to show some fabulous basketball, but it's just too early for that. Clippers all the way tonight!

[valuepunter]

Re: NBA 4th of January Nice writeup, I was going to avoid this game because my gut said the line was just slightly too high, but the more I look at it the more I fancy the Clippers. They're still on track to make a franchise record 11 straight home wins, and when a player comes out criticising his teammates it's not going to help the cohesion of the team, especially coming from someone as selfish on the court as Bryant. Gasol's foot is still causing problems and with Butler coming back for the Clippers the pendulum certainly seems to be swinging strongly in the clippers direction. So... I'll pull the trigger too. GL :ok Clippers -4.5 @ 1.95 - 1 unit