NBA Playoffs Odds 2012: Denver Nuggets vs. LA Lakers Game 1

Carrie Stroup here bringing you the NBA Playoffs odds 2012 for Game 1 of the Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Lakers.  You can find all the latest NBA Playoffs odds at Sportsbook.com here and receive up to $250 in FREE CASH when opening an account.  Many of these games you will be able to bet on LIVE. 

Sportsbook.com Game 1 Line & Total: Lakers -4.5 & 202

Series Line: Lakers -250/Nuggets +200

After a roller coaster season, the Lakers have a tough first round playoff draw with the high-scoring Nuggets coming to town to start the series on Sunday afternoon.

This winner of this matchup will be the team that controls the pace of play. Denver leads the NBA in points (104.1 PPG) and assists (24.0 APG) and would love to make this a track meet. The Lakers want to be much more deliberate on offense and let their twin towers of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol dominate inside. L.A. has the advantage with one of the game’s premier closers in Kobe Bryant, while Denver is a team that doesn’t have one go-to player. But this committee approach has worked in the team’s favor since shipping high-priced Carmelo Anthony out of town last year. The Nuggets closed out the regular season winning eight of their final 10 games including each of the past four by an average margin of 18.0 PPG. But the one factor that can’t be measured is the difference in coaching. George Karl has pulled off many upsets in his day, and Mike Brown has never been known as an overachiever in the postseason. The 2-to-1 odds are just too good to pass up for Karl’s Nuggets.

Denver has six players that average more than 10 points per game, led by PG Ty Lawson (16.4 PPG, 6.6 APG). He has run the point masterfully during his team’s four-game win streak, handing out 28 assists to just three turnovers. He’s also made at least half of his shots in each of his past six games, averaging 21.8 PPG on 60% FG, including 14-of-20 threes. SG Arron Afflalo (15.2 PPG) also finished the season on a tear, scoring at least a dozen points in his final 21 games, averaging 18.8 PPG on 52% FG (44% threes) during this stretch. He’ll be tasked with stopping Bryant on the defensive end, which will be a much more important role than scoring. Considering how bad Bryant has shot versus Denver this season (27.5% FG, 2-of-17 threes), Afflalo has obviously bothered Bryant with his defense.

SF Danilo Gallinari (14.6 PPG), PF Al Harrington (14.2 PPG), C JaVale McGee (11.3 PPG) and PF Kenneth Faried (10.2 PPG) are all capable of scoring 20 per night, but the question is whether or not Harrington, McGee and Faried can contain Bynum and Gasol in the paint. Harrington and PG Andre Miller (9.7 PPG, 6.7 APG) were the two big scorers against L.A. this year. Harrington led the team with 18.8 PPG on 48% FG, and PG Andre Miller averaged 15.3 PPG (55% FG) and 5.8 APG against the Lakers.

Other than the historically awful Bobcats, the Lakers had the worst ATS record in the league this season at 27-38-1 ATS (41.5%). But the Nuggets finished with the fifth-best ATS mark at 36-30 (54.5%). L.A. won three of the four head-to-head meetings this season, but these teams have split their past 16 meetings (8-8 SU, 8-7-1 ATS favoring Denver) which includes their matchup in the 2009 playoffs. Despite the struggles of Bryant (27.9 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 4.6 APG) against the Nuggets this year, he enters the playoffs on a high note, averaging 27.8 PPG on 52% FG and 12-of-22 threes in his past six contests.

Bynum (18.7 PPG, 11.8 RPG) has been an absolute force in four games versus Denver this season with 24.8 PPG, 11.8 RPG and 2.3 BPG. Gasol (17.4 PPG, 10.4 RPG) has also averaged a double-double against Denver with 16.0 PPG and 10.8 RPG. PG Ramon Sessions (11.3 PPG, 5.5 APG) will try his best to stay in front of the lightning-quick Lawson to help make up for an offensive slump. In the past five games, Sessions has just 9.2 PPG on 41.7% FG with a mere 17 assists and 12 turnovers. Unless this series lasts seven games, SF Metta World Peace (7.7 PPG) will not play after his elbow to the head of Thunder SF James Harden last Sunday. World Peace earned a seven-game suspension for his actions, which includes being banned for the first six postseason games. In addition to his great defense all season, he has averaged 12.8 PPG in his past four contests.

- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter