UNDER 220.5,LOS ANGELES LAKERS -vs-Golden State Warriors
4* L.A. LAKERS/GOLDEN STATE Under The oddsmakers are forced to price this one like a good old-fashioned shootout, but that is not what Tuesday’s game flow brings at all. When Andris Biedrins, Athony Randolph and Ronny Turiaf are on the court, the Warriors are an entirely different team from the one forced to play at a break-neck pace to be successful, relying on those forays to the basket from Monta Ellis. The problem is that they have rarely been on the court together. Last night’s win over Boston marked the first time since October that Don Nelson had them all in the rotation, and the result was that 103-99 win in which the tempo was much more moderate than has been the Warrior way much of the season, and also some tough work on the boards (they were only out-rebounded 44-43). Now those three can become an even bigger presence now that they have some minutes under their belts, and sanity will return to Golden State game flows. At the same time look for fatigue to be an issue for Ellis, who had a sizzling 37 points last night, but never left the floor. It was the second time in the past week he has played the full 48 minutes, and third time since December 12th, so look for both his ability to push the ball, and to finish, to be diminished. The Lakers also bring weary legs, playing for the fourth time in five days, with a court change each time and two O.T. periods thrown in. Those O.T.’s were particularly painful to us, as an easy Under ticket at Sacramento morphed into a bitter defeat, the second time it has happened when playing the Lakers Under in a back-to-back setting in the month of December. But note how those O.T.’s confuse the markets. The Lakers have played seven back-to-back settings so far, going 6-0-1 to the Under in regulation, and falling a collective 98.5 points below the projections, for an average of 14.1 per game. That is a most significant performance pattern, but it got missed because three of those seven games were knotted at the end of regulation. Phil Jackson has a tired team tonight, and absolutely does not want a track meet. Look for him to slow things down in the early stages, but for the Warriors to also be comfortable with that as well, and the heavy legs for many of the key scorers keep this from ever getting anywhere near the high Total.
Malinksy?
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