NBA Picks: Wizards vs Lakers NBA Odds – March 21, 2010: The Western Conference leading (51-18) Los Angeles Lakers [-12½] assured themselves a playoff spot by winning their fifth consecutive game over the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday night. Tonight, beginning at 9:40 PM ET (6:40 PM PT), the defending champs will welcome the lowly sports betting odds underdog (21-46) Washington Wizards [+12½] to the STAPLES Center. This interconference matchup will be broadcasted live on FSW-LAL and/or Comcast-Sports-Net.
The Wizards come in looking forward to this year’s NBA Draft, as they comfortably sit in the cellar of the Southeast Division. Washington comes into this game losers of 10 games in a row and with the fourth worst record in the entire NBA. For those interested in betting on the OVER/UNDER, NBA Odds makers at BODOG.com believe Washington and Los Angeles will combine and score a grand total of 194 points tonight.
For the Lakers, clinching a playoff berth came at the expense of losing center Andrew Bynum for at least six games. An MRI on Saturday revealed that Bynum suffered an Achilles’ tendon strain, not a tear as it was first believed. Nevertheless, the Purple and Gold will likely have to go without the big fella for at least two weeks.
This of course means that the Lakers will embark on their toughest road trip of the season short-handed this week. However, tonight shouldn’t be much of a struggle for the home team even without No.17 in the lineup. Los Angeles has won six straight against Washington going into tonight.
“The guys on this team, we've been playing together for a while, so that's not a problem. You just continue to play,” team captain Kobe Bryant said. “We're used to playing through injuries and things like that. I saw him after the game and he wasn't limping too much, so hopefully it's not that serious and he won't miss any time.
“But we need his rebounding and his defense. We throw the ball into him a lot, and he gets easy buckets for us with his size.”
