2* - Los Angeles Lakers (-9)
The Lakers looked bad for the first three quarters of Sunday?s game against Boston but the team rallied in the fourth to tie the game only to lose by a score of 112-111. Paul Pierce continued his hot shooting streak with 39 points and although Kobe scored 40 points in the game, only three of those were in the fourth quarter when his teammates delivered a surprising rally. Cook ended up with 19 points and Odom added another 14 in the losing effort. The Lakers are now 4-8 in February which is their worst record for the month in fourteen years.
The good news is that the Magic are coming to Staples Center tonight and their record this month is 2-11 with their only wins coming against Boston on February 4th and Seattle last Friday. Both of those games were played on the Magic?s home court but on the road this season, Orlando is only 6-21 and is scoring just 92.3 points per game. In the win over Boston, Pierce got almost no help in the scoring from his teammates and Seattle played without Ray Allen in the line-up for that game so neither win was particularly impressive.
Since the departure of Frances, the Orlando starters have averaged just 59.5 points per game and in Saturday?s game against Houston, only Grant Hill scored in double figures among the starters as the Magic lost by a score of 89-84. That kind of offensive production will not get it done against the Lakers who are averaging 102 points at home this season. This was an average team with Francis and when they traded away their best player for Penny Hardaway, they essentially gave up on the season.
I expect the Lakers to play with a sense of urgency tonight as they realize that they have to improve on their inconsistent play of late if they are going to maintain their slim lead over Utah for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. It?s about time for Kobe to go off again and the best the Magic have to throw at him is DeShawn Stevenson which is simply not enough.
The Lakers looked bad for the first three quarters of Sunday?s game against Boston but the team rallied in the fourth to tie the game only to lose by a score of 112-111. Paul Pierce continued his hot shooting streak with 39 points and although Kobe scored 40 points in the game, only three of those were in the fourth quarter when his teammates delivered a surprising rally. Cook ended up with 19 points and Odom added another 14 in the losing effort. The Lakers are now 4-8 in February which is their worst record for the month in fourteen years.
The good news is that the Magic are coming to Staples Center tonight and their record this month is 2-11 with their only wins coming against Boston on February 4th and Seattle last Friday. Both of those games were played on the Magic?s home court but on the road this season, Orlando is only 6-21 and is scoring just 92.3 points per game. In the win over Boston, Pierce got almost no help in the scoring from his teammates and Seattle played without Ray Allen in the line-up for that game so neither win was particularly impressive.
Since the departure of Frances, the Orlando starters have averaged just 59.5 points per game and in Saturday?s game against Houston, only Grant Hill scored in double figures among the starters as the Magic lost by a score of 89-84. That kind of offensive production will not get it done against the Lakers who are averaging 102 points at home this season. This was an average team with Francis and when they traded away their best player for Penny Hardaway, they essentially gave up on the season.
I expect the Lakers to play with a sense of urgency tonight as they realize that they have to improve on their inconsistent play of late if they are going to maintain their slim lead over Utah for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. It?s about time for Kobe to go off again and the best the Magic have to throw at him is DeShawn Stevenson which is simply not enough.
