Los Angeles at New York

Los Angeles is 12-20 and dropped its last two by six and seven points, hardly must-see basketball, but neither loss got out of hand, and that's the pattern with this team. We had the Sparks getting points against Golden State four days ago, and it cashed; Los Angeles fell by just six to a team that had won eight of its last ten. New York is the far better club at 20-14 and scores 90.8 points per night, yet the Liberty's average margin is a modest 3.2 points, and in their last outing they leaked 106 in a road loss to Indiana. Los Angeles allows 93.6 points per game, the second-worst mark in the league, which might be reason to stay away, but it hasn't stopped this team from staying competitive, even while losing more often than not. A high-scoring favorite that can't put teams away is walking into a defense that gives up points in bunches of its own, and I like how that combination keeps games glued together into the fourth quarter. Los Angeles is the right side on the spread tonight.