Portland at Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Lakers are playing more on reputation these days than on the level of talent they put on the court night in and night out. Last night they found themselves down by 23 points at the half to a rather mediocre Phoenix team in a big loss. That leaves the Lake Show at 8-8 over their last 16 games. While Gasol, Bryant, and Bynum continue to do their thing, the rest of the roster is mediocre. This it is starting to show as more players are needed as the season progresses, and playing on no rest isn't going to help them. Portland is off a big 20-point win, holding Atlanta to 77 points in the process on the heels of holding a good Clippers’ team to 74 in their game previous to that. The bright spot for the Lakers is their No. 5 ranked defense, but the offense has surely been disappointing. The Blazers have used the defensive formula to go 27-10 ATS in their last 37 vs. the Lakers, and LA has played to a 42-20-1 UNDER mark vs. the NBA's Northwest. The Blazers are now 14-6 to the UNDER in their last 20 on the road. Play this one on Portland and the UNDER.