Lakers Playing Respect Card in Beantown

Revenge can be such an ugly word and today’s athlete doesn’t always find it to be a compelling argument to go out and give it everything you have. Choose a different say, “embarrassment” or even worse “disrespect” those are fightin’ words in this era. Players of today make a lot of money, which leads to bigger egos and when their friends and hangers on tell them they were essentially Punk’d, that’s not going to sit well. For the Los Angeles Lakers, they return to Boston for the first time since Game Six of the NBA finals, where they embarrassed 131-92.

“We had our most disappointing moments on that Boston Celtic court in Game 6,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson stated. “To be not only beaten, but humiliated, in a game like that to end the series, and have them celebrating and throwing (stuff) all over the court, disrupting the game with 2 1/2 minutes left to go. It was in your face and everybody remembers that. There’s a certain element of, you know, we have some serious work to do.”

The Lakers (39-9, 24-23-1 ATS) relieved some of that embarrassment on Christmas Day, with their 92-83 win as two-point home favorites. Back then Boston was in the midst of playing their worst basketball of the season, winning twice in nine games. The competitive nature of elite athletes, they want to beat others who are also at their best, which is exactly where the Celtics are at present, having won 12 in a row (9-3 ATS).

For L.A., this almost becomes a crusade of sorts with so many factors working against them.

Just like in last year’s finals, the purple-clad Lakers will be without center Andrew Bynum, who will miss eight to 12 weeks after tearing the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. This will be game five of a six-game road trip (4-0 SU and ATS) and doesn’t go unnoticed in the Lakers locker room; this will be their fifth game in seven days, having to play last night in Toronto, while Boston had the night off. Bryant and the Lakers will try and build on recent success which has them 12-3 ATS playing back to back road games.

Pau Gasol tried to sum up the team’s feelings. “Last time we played there it was a pretty bad game for us,” he said. “I’m looking forward to bounce back there and prove a point.”

Boston (28-22 ATS) will be hell-bent on defending their own turf, where they are 24-2 and 16-10 ATS. The Celtics have followed up winning the championship, with quite an encore thus far with 41-9 record, best in the NBA. They will welcome back Kevin Garnett who has missed the last two games due to illness and look to sustain winning ways. Boston is 11-3 ATS in home games after having won eight or more of their last 10 games this season.

Bookmaker.com has Boston as six-point pick with total of 204.5. The Celtics could have the edge being 12-2 ATS in a home game where the total is greater than or equal to 200. The Lakers will attempt to counter posting 17-6 ATS record in road games after successfully covering the spread in two or more consecutive outings.

With contrasting styles of play, tempo will be important. L.A. is 17-4 OVER after three or more consecutive wins this season, winning by almost seven points a game. On the other hand, Paul Pierce and his gang (possibly poor choice of words) is 10-1 UNDER after scoring 100 points or more two straight contests, with average margin of victory 13 points.

The excitement starts at 8:05 Eastern on TNT with the C’s 4-1SU and ATS in last five meetings in Beantown.