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Monday NBA preview and pick

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  • Monday NBA preview and pick

    7pm ET
    LA Lakers @ Indiana Pacers

    The LA Lakers play the second of a seven-game road trip tonight when they take on the Indiana Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse.

    The Pacers are 35-13 SU overall this season and have performed very well for bettors going 30-18 ATS. They are a dominant 19-5 SU and 13-10 ATS at home and we expect them to continue on their winning ways tonight.

    Indiana are likely to be without leading scorer Jermaine O'Neal but good teams normally respond very well to the loss of a key player. Al Harrington would replace O'Neal in the starting line-up and in his last three games he is averaging 24 ppg and 6.3 rpg. And O'Neal's likely loss is offset by the continued absence from the Lakers line-up of All-Star's Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone. It's stating the obvious to say that their replacements in Kareem Rush and Stanislav Medvedenko are not in the same class as their future Hall of Fame teammate's.

    The Pacers are 14-4 ATS this season in non-conference games, 16-5 ATS against teams with a winning record, and have dominated Pacific division opponents on the way to a 6-2 ATS record. Indiana rank third in the NBA this season allowing just 84.9 points per game.

    The Lakers are second in the Pacific at 28-16 SU but are only 19-25 ATS and have covered just 30% of road games this season. They have struggled with injuries and huge expectations all season and are just 8-15 ATS against teams with a winning record. Yesterday they squeaked by the undersized Raptors 84-83 for a rare road victory.

    These teams last met back in late November and the Lakers thrashed Indiana 99-77 at the Staples Center.

    "We were 14-2 at the time and we came on a team that was really playing at a different level than anybody else we had played," said coach Carlisle. "The Lakers were really clicking at that time. . . . Obviously, we're going to have to do a lot better."
    "They won three NBA Championships) in a row, so you always look at them as the champs," said Al Harrington. "They have Shaquille over there and it seems like nobody ever has an answer for him, so you always look at them and give them respect every time you see them. . . . You're going to get up to play those guys. . . . I feel like we owe them one. We came out to L.A. and they beat us down."

    The Pacers are 13-7 ATS this season when playing with revenge and neither of these teams have covered two in a row in this series since the NBA Finals in 2000.

    Indiana have won eight of their last nine at home and we expect them to win and cover again tonight.

    Recommended Play: Indiana -4
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