LA Lakers versus Portland Trailblazers Pick Prediction NBA Pro Basketball Odds Preview 12-28-2012

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The 14-13 Portland Trailblazers will travel to play the 9-6 LA Lakers in an NBA pro basketball game on Friday night. Tip off time from LA is scheduled for 10:30PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by the NBA League Pass Channel.  The point spread from this NBA contest will be out on Friday afternoon because Dwight Howard is facing a possible suspension over his hard foul in Wednesday’s game at Denver. Also Pau Gasol had an MRI on his foot and has plantar fasciitis. The two teams have one meeting on the year back on October 31st and it was Portland with the 116-106 home win against the Lakers as a +2 ½ point underdog. Portland is 4-9 on the road this season. They have been playing good basketball of late as they are winners of six of their past seven games. All six wins came on their home court as they have had a recent string of home dates recently. Trend: Portland Trailblazers are 5-1 ATS in their past six games with the LA Lakers.They come off the 109-91 home win on Wednesday against the Sacramento Kings as a -7 ½ point home favorite. The game landed over 198 ½ points. The Trailblazers have defended better during this positive stretch allowing only one opponent 100 or more points in their past nine games. Rookie point guard Damian Lillard averages 18 points and nearly 7 assists per game and he is making 42% of his shots. Last season the Trailblazers got poor play from their guards which led to demise in the standings but this season that is being corrected. The Lakers are 9-6 on their home court. Their five game win streak got snapped on Wednesday in a 126-114 road defeat on Wednesday to the Denver Nuggets as a +3 ½ point underdog. It was a tough spot playing the back end of a back to back after a Christmas Day win the day before against the Knicks. Both Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash have been playing major minutes leading up to this game. Nash played just 30 minutes and had 15 points and 8 assists. Kobe played 44 minutes and scored 40 points on 13 of 24 shooting. Kobe has played over 40 minutes a game now in ten straight games. His shooting percentage is nearly 48% on the season.