Nut-cracking time for Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. The same guy who several weeks ago was so critical of Dwight Howard\u2019s unwillingness to play with pain now finds himself in the same (uncomfortable) spot. <\/p>\n
Los Angeles Lakers (34-32) at Indiana Pacers (40-24)<\/strong> Matchup<\/a> | Preview<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n Check Out Ray’s NBA Plays Today!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Bryant\u2019s sprained ankle, suffered in the final seconds of the Lakers\u2019 loss to the Hawks on Wednesday night, now is the only story line for LA as the team desperately tries to avoid the humiliation of having to sit through the Draft Lottery in a few months.<\/p>\n The sense of urgency that was so lacking in November, December and into January is gone, but it has been replaced by Bryant\u2019s swollen ankle.<\/p>\n The second gear that the Lakers had been waiting for arrived on March 6, which was the start of a 4-game winning streak that moved LA into playoff position.<\/p>\n The Lakers\u2019 move upwards into the standing dovetailed nicely with spotty play by the Trail Blazers and the mother of all slumps by the Jazz, enabling LA to take possession \u2013 for now, anyway \u2013 of the 8th and final Western Conference playoff spot.<\/p>\n The Lakers have 18 games left on the schedule, and four of them \u2013 including tonight\u2019s interesting matchup against the Pacers \u2013 are against winning teams on the road. (Utah has 17 games remaining, 10 of them at home).<\/p>\n Say what you want about Bryant, but he is a tough dude who has kept the Lakers from completely falling apart this season. He turns 35 in August, but hasn\u2019t missed a game this season and is scoring at 27.5. [ad-6571516]<\/p>\n Perhaps more impressively, he is playing more than 38 minutes a game. He has been the anchor through the firing of Mike Brown, the death of owner Jerry Buss and the usual portion of Howard drama.<\/p>\n When the Lakers got one look at Bryant\u2019s injury, they announced that he would be out indefinitely. But after a day of treatment on Thursday, no one is saying much of anything and there is an assumption that the shooting guard will at least attempt to go tonight.<\/p>\n He may be able to stay off his feet a bit next week when the schedule softens (home vs. Sacramento and Washington, at Phoenix), but starting on March 25 the Lakers begin a 4-game road swing that will have a lot to say about whether they are in or out when the playoffs start in late April.<\/p>\n If the Lakers are in a precarious position, the Pacers are 180 degrees in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n They can\u2019t catch the Heat in the East, and with the Knicks banged up and getting beaten to a pulp on the West Coast, the Pacers have moved into the No. 2 playoff spot.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve won 9 of their last 12 in overtaking the Knicks, but there have been a few uncharacteristic losses at home against decent teams (Celtics, Clippers) in the last few weeks.<\/p>\n Indiana has had trouble covering against good teams, and the 9.5 number is too tempting. <\/p>\n LA to cover.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lakers vs Pacers NBA Handicapping Nut-cracking time for Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. The same guy who several weeks ago was so critical of Dwight Howard\u2019s unwillingness to play with pain now finds himself in the same (uncomfortable) spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":28058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[22387,4045,58396,58397,58394,58395,5741,23074,57184,3942],"class_list":["post-60657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-free-nba-hoops-prediction","tag-free-nba-picks","tag-l-a-lakers-vs-indiana-pacers","tag-l-a-lakers-vs-indiana-pacers-odds","tag-lakers-pacers-free-prediction","tag-lakers-pacers-picks","tag-lakers-vs-pacers","tag-nba-betting-picks","tag-nba-betting-prediction","tag-nba-handicapping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60657"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60718,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60657\/revisions\/60718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Friday, March 15<\/strong>
\n Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis<\/strong>
\n 7 p.m. EST<\/strong>
\n Spread \u2013 Pacers -9.5 at JustBet<\/a><\/strong>
\n Total \u2013 190<\/strong><\/p>\nCLICK GRAB OUR BEST Expert NBA Picks for 2013 HOOPS GAMBLING season!<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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