One Nba match for today:
The Los Angeles Lakers look to end the year on a high when they play host to the visit Denver Nuggets tonight.
The Lakers seemed to have shaken off their early season rust and are coming into this matchup on the back of two consecutive wins. Most recently, LA were able to defeat the New York Knicks by 99-82 with Kobe Bryant scoring an efficient 28 points on 10 of 17 shooting and Pau Gasol adding 16 points and 10 rebounds of his own. The Lakers' offense seemed on song, but it was actually their team defense that won the game for them, as they were able to hold the Knicks to just 31.3 percent from the field.
With Andrew Bynum absent for the first four games of the season, Metta World Peace and Steve Blake have had an increase in minutes off the bench and they have certainly made the most of it, showing that they perform better when not restricted to the system of Phil Jackson's famous triangle offense. The news gets even better for the Lakers as Bynum has finally served his four-game suspension and will be available to play against the Nuggets tonight.
On the other hand, the Nuggets are coming off their first loss of the season, a 111-102 loss to the Portland Trailblazers as Ty Lawson's big game of 25 points and career-best eight steals was in vain with the rest of the Nuggets team shooting just 35.2 percent from the field. Poor permiter shooting was the biggest disappointment of the night for the Nuggets as they converted on just four of 20 attempts from the three point line. On the bright side, as bad as the Nuggets were playing, they were always within an earshot of winning as Ty Lawson continued to build upon his great start to the season of 22.3 points per game on 61.9 shooting.
Head to head, the Nuggets are 5-1-1 ATS in the last seven meetings between these teams while the Under is 5-1 in the last six meetings at the Staples Center.
Denver has been quite impressive this season, with their only loss coming against a much-improved Portland outfit so I wouldn't read too much into that loss except for the fact that Lawson is going to have his way with LA's Derek Fisher. Despite Lawson's recent efficiency, I am still going to favour the Lakers who have finally woken up and will be buoyed by the return of Bynum to their lineup.
Pick: LA Lakers
