The hunt for NBA title no. 17 begins for the Los Angeles Lakers when they welcome the Houston Rockets on October 28. Is Kobe Bryant healthy enough to carry this team beyond the lowly expectations of experts? Or will the Rockets be the first team to show how tough the climb it’s going to be for Los Angeles this season? Read on for more about this matchup. You can also checkout our preview of Knicks vs. Cavs here.
[sc:NBAArticles ]Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers Betting Preview
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles
When: Tuesday, October 28, 10:30PM ET
Line: Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers – view all NBA lines
Betting on the Houston Rockets
[sc:NBA240banner ]A high-octane offense carried the Rockets last season to the playoffs, but a lousy defense kept the team from going deep, losing to the equally high-scoring Portland Trailblazers in the first round. Based from the Rockets’ performance last season and their offseason moves, there won’t be much of a change with the way Kevin McHale’s team approaches each game: dump a lot of points and hope that’ll be enough to cover for their defensive shortcomings.
That’s not to say that the team that ranked 23rd on defense last regular season with 103.1 PPG allowed per game and worst in the playoffs with 111.7 PPG surrendered isn’t bound to improve. After all, they have the tools to stymie opposing offenses. Patrick Beverley is one of the peskiest guards anyone can meet in the backcourt. Dwight Howard is a three-time defensive player of the year. Despite losing Chandler Parsons, Daryl Morey was able to sign Trevor Ariza, a better ball-stopper who can be relied upon to take on the opposing team’s best perimeter player. He’ll likely be assigned to Kobe Bryant in the season opener, but he’s also versatile enough to shadow two-guard Wesley Johnson.
James Harden, meanwhile, will lead the attack on offense. Harden is the teams’ leading scorer with 26.8 PPG followed by Howard, who had a 26.0 PPG mark. The Rockets can make a killing from the outside, around the perimeter, and inside the paint. With Howard and Terrence Jones down low, and crafty slashers in Harden and Ariza, the Rockets can abuse the Lakers’ weak interior defense that gave up a league-worst 49.2 paint points per game.
The Rockets are 2-0 in their last two trips to Staples Center, covering the spread in each of those games.
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Betting on the Los Angeles Lakers
Kobe’s back. Byron Scott is the new coach. But those aren’t enough to make the Lakers’ fan base forget that they struck out on LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Kevin Love during the offseason. Instead, the team landed Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin – not quite spectacular pickups, but at least the pair helps address a couple of holes in the Lakers lineup.
Boozer lessens the impact of Pau Gasol’s departure, while Lin provides serviceable talent in the point guard position that sorely lacks depth.
Nevertheless, the Lakers’ offense doesn’t look to be in fine shape. For them to keep up, the Lakers are going to need Kobe to be vintage Kobe, which means a bulk of the scoring load must come from Black Mamba’s hands. Bryant scored an average of just 13.8 points in six games last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury. He can’t do it alone, though, therefore Bryant must cajole the Lakers’ young guns to step up. With Nick Young (thumb) out, expect rookie guard Jordan Clarkson to play significant minutes. Clarkson averaged 17.5 PPG in 35 games played at Mizzou last NCAA season.
First-round pick Julius Randle, meanwhile, beefs up the interior but he’s running second in the power forward depth chart, leaving Boozer and center Jordan Hill to take on the Rockets’ frontcourt at the start of the ballgame. The Rockets take a lot of shots, and if Los Angeles can’t keep them from unloading, then the Lakers might as well do a better job of clearing the boards.
Boozer is a solid rebounder, who averaged 8.3 RPG for the Chicago Bulls last season. That may be a shade fewer than that Gasol’s 9.7, but look for Boozer to collar more rebounds because he’s playing in a slim Lakers frontcourt that’s not quite like the one he played in Chicago, where do-it-all big man Joakim Noah eats up a large share of boards.
The under is 7-3 in the Lakers’ last 10 games.
Writer’s Prediction
The Rockets win, 103-90.
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