The LA Lakers rebounded nicely from Game 1’s loss and beat the Houston Rockets 111-98 in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semi-finals. Derek Fisher is suspended for tonight’s game after a vicious body check on Luis Scola. Game 3 goes tonight, May 8, as the series shifts to Houston where NBA oddsmakers at SBGglobal.com have the Lakers as -1.5 road favs over the Rockets with the over/under listed at 194 points. Be sure to get your 2009 NBA Playoffs LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets Pick in now at SBGglobal.com
The Lakers and Rockets played a hard hitting game which resulted in Derek Fisher’s ejection as well as Ron Artest who went after Kobe Bryant after claiming Kobe threw an elbow at his face. The league gave Bryant a flagrant foul one penalty on Thursday, meaning he will be suspended for one game if he gets three more flagrant foul ones during the postseason. The Lakers Bryant finished the night with 40pts after hitting 16 of 27 from the field. Pau Gasol hit 9 of 13 from the field and 4 of 6 from the line to end with 22pts 14 rebounds. Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza combined for a low 15pts; they’ll have to improve to get by the Rockets on their home court. Houston committed 19 turnovers which Los Angeles turned into 23pts. The Lakers went 1-1 on the road during their series against Utah; they averaged 97 ppg and gave up an average 91 ppg>. The Lakers compiled the league's best road record (29-12), including two wins in Houston, so the Lakers are downplaying any edge the Rockets may have stolen. "It's 1-to-1," Odom said. "If you consider home court an advantage, then I guess you could say so. But we can play on the road and I think that we have proved that the whole year."
The Rockets top producers in Game 2 where Ron Artest with 25pts before being ejected in the 33rd minute. Carl Landry added 21pts 10 rebounds off the bench and Yao Ming finished with 12pts 10 rebounds. Shane Battier, who has guarded Bryant for most of the series, expects both teams to tone down the unnecessary roughness, because the referees will try to take immediate control. "They'll call a tight game, a lot tighter game than we've seen to this point," Battier said. As a team the Rockets shot a miserable 45.9% from the field and they hit only 9 of 24 three pointers. The Rockets, who took home-court advantage in the series with their Game 1 victory, went 33-8 at home during the regular season where they averaged 99.1 ppg and gave up an average 90.5 ppg. They went 3-0 at home during their series with Portland; they averaged 89 ppg and gave up an average82.3 ppg.
Recent Trends to Consider:
- Lakers are 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings.
- Lakers are 8-2 ATS in the last 10 meetings in Houston.
- Favorite is 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings.
- Lakers are 8-3-1 ATS in their last 12 Conference Semifinals games.
- Rockets are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 playoff games as an underdog of 0.5-4.5.
2009 NBA Playoffs LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets
When: Fri, May 8, 2009 9:30 PM ET
Line: SBGglobal.com
Pick: Lakers -1.5
Point-Spreads.com 2009 NBA Playoffs LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets
The Bottom Line: Kobe is money in the fourth quarter, but what are they going to be like without Derek Fisher. Go Lakers! Be sure to get your 2009 NBA Playoffs LA Lakers vs Houston Rockets Pick in now at SBGglobal.com and receive a 10% sign-up bonus on your initial deposit
