NBA Betting Preview: Kobe And Lakers Favored To Repeat

The Los Angeles Lakers begin their title defense tonight at home against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Lakers are once again the team to beat according to the odds makers, who have installed L.A. as a 2-1 favorite to win another championship.

Almost the entire cast of characters is back from last year's title winning team. The only exception is that the Lakers traded out Trevor Ariza for Ron Artest. Some experts believe that makes the Lakers potentially even more dominating than they were last year.

Artest brings the one thing that this current Lakers team has lacked outside of Kobe Bryant-toughness. Artest is known to be one of the best defenders in the league and his ability to score makes him another weapon on a team that is loaded with offensive ammunition.

Another player that may make the Lakers tough to beat is Andrew Bynum. Before he was hurt last year, he was on pace to become an All-Star caliber player. He was tentative when he came back from his injury and was not much of a factor in the playoffs.

Inevitably, even with very good surrounding pieces, the weight of getting this team back to the Finals will fall on the shoulders of Bryant. The former league MVP is getting closer to Michael Jordan's six championships and his window may only be another three or four years to reach that number.

Cleveland, San Antonio, Boston, and Orlando are all expected to challenge the Lakers, but as of now odds makers believe there will be a repeat champion. Tonight, the challenge of repeating begins.

October 27, 2009
Posted By Vincent Tapoglia III
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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