Houston at Los Angeles

It would be an understatement to call the Lakers a dissapointment. Their trade of Shaq goes down as one of the five worst trades in sports history in my book. The Lakers have packed it in, especially defensively. They've dropped 12 of 13, most recently getting pasted by the suns by 26 points. In that game, 224 points were scored. Over their past five games, Los Angeles has allowed an average of 106.8 points per game. This season they've allowed 100+ points 42 times (56% of the time). Since the beginning of February, they've allowed 100 or more 23 out of 32 games (a whopping 72%). And, their offense has slowed but they are still averaging 98 per game over that same span and nearly 100 at home. Houston plays in low scoring games but the score and allow more on the road. Their road games total 6.4 points per game higher than at home. They should put up 100-110 tonight against Lost Angeles. That leaves just 80-90 for LA to score and they can pull that off at home. Games which feature a total of 190 and 199.5 points and a losing home team off a road loss against a division rival have gone OVER the toal 65% of the time since 1996. Also, the Lakers are 8-2 OVER as a home underdog this season. One star on the OVER.