Andre Gomes Available Picks

June, 08 2008 9:00pm EST
TOTAL: Over 190.5 (-110)
WIN for +2.73 unit(s)

Los Angeles Lakers at Boston Celtics

Boston receives the Lakers in the Game 2, leading the series by 1-0. For this game I have the feeling that the Lakers will be very competitive and they may even win today, however I think the public money pounded so much LA that betting on the Lakers doesn't have value anymore, as they are now the favorites to win tonight, even playing at Boston. The response of LA to the Game 1 won't be in the defense, but in the attack, as the 88 points scored in the Game 1 show the problems they had. Actually if the Lakers reached halftime leading by 51-46, it was due to their good ball movement, with 14 assists in the 1st half. But then in the second half they only made seven. Kobe was one of the main reasons for the Lakers defeat and today everybody expects a bounce back from him. He only shot 9-26 FG and he missed some easy layups. During the shutdown of the Lakers in the fourth quarter (just 15 points scored), he shot 1-7 FG and just scored 4 points. It's also important to say that LA just shot 3-14 3pts and since Gasol has reached the team, they have an average of 9 3pts shots made per game. Also since Gasol reached the team, the Lakers only scored less than 100 points in a game for five times and when that happened, they always scored more than 100 points in the following game.

Boston deserved to win the Game 1 and the epic return of Pierce in the 3rd quarter gave the momentum the team needed, but it's also important to say that in the second half, Garnett shot 3-13 FG and he had a span of 9 missed shots in a row, which tells us that Boston is capable of doing better today in the attack than they did in the Game 1. The doubts in this game are related to the physical conditions of Pierce and Perkins. The center from Boston seems to be the worse of the two physically and that will help the mobile attack of the Lakers, who will get an extra edge in here, with Perkins limited.

Today I expect both teams to be better in the attack, especially the Lakers. It won't be hard for Boston to improve in the attack too, as the team excluding Pierce shot 25-66 (37.8%) FG. As I expect the Lakers to be much more competitive today and they can lead the game, there will be the need of Boston to push up the tempo and then, we will have the ideal conditions for this game to have at least 195/200 points. I remember that this series had a line of 195 points in the Game 1 and today the line is just 190,5 points. Take the over in here.