New Orleans Hornets @ LA Lakers NBA Basketball Preview

The Lakers defense has not been the same since losing Andrew Bynum to injury and has got by with hot shooting and their potent offense. When the Lakers regular got a little banged up there offense couldn’t carry them. They dropped a huge game at Portland giving up over 50% shooting to the playoff eliminated Blazers and lost the rebounding battle. The Lakers are just 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games heading into Thursday’s action playing only 1 playoff contender in that span. New Orleans dropped a game to Utah at home as the Jazz held the Hornets to 36 ½ shooting. Unfortunately the Lakers don’t have anyone in the middle with the defensive ability of Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur in their lineup right now. New Orleans is 26-12 straight up on the road this season. The Hornets bigs can run the court very well and the Lakers will need to hustle on defense. Former LA Laker Jannergo Pargo will give New Orleans points off their bench. All eyes are on the Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul MVP race but the MVP of this game will be David West as he is averaging 20 points and 7 boards over his last 5 games. West and Paul will be a tough matchup for the Lakers defense. Take the points here with New Orleans in this one. Take New Orleans +3.