Even baseball betting players had to be paying attention to the first weekend of the NBA playoffs, which was arguably better than the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament as the highest margin of victory over the first eight games was a 10-point win for Atlanta in Orlando. But the biggest surprise of the weekend came in the West, as San Antonio lost at home to Memphis, while the Los Angeles Lakers were stunned by New Orleans. Which is the top two seeds have dug themselves a deep hole? The Spurs allowed the Grizzlies to shoot 55.2% from the field in a 101-98 loss, and they shot 40% from the floor themselves. The Spurs were missing Manu Ginobili, who has a hyperextended elbow, but that isn’t the reason that their defense was so awful. San Antonio was destroyed inside as Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol combined for 49 points and 23 rebounds, and while Tim Duncan had 16 points and 13 boards, the future Hall of Famer can’t do it on his own. DeJuan Blair actually had a decent game for the first time in two months as those who watch NBA scores can tell you, but he may have to step up for more minutes because Antonio McDyess doesn’t offer anything at this point in his career. But the Lakers losing to New Orleans was a bigger upset as they fell 109-100, and for having the size advantage, Los Angeles was hammered 52-34 in the paint by the Hornets. This was partly because they couldn’t stop Chris Paul, who had 33 points, 14 assists, seven boards and four steals, and that opened the inside for the New Orleans big men, especially Aaron Gray, who had 12 points in 25 minutes before going out late with a sprained ankle. Pau Gasol had a nightmare of a game, while Andrew Bynum didn’t fare that much better, and you shouldn’t need a 5dimes review to tell you that the Lakers need their big men to be much better if they’re going to avoid an 0-2 hole going back to New Orleans. We’re going to give the edge to the Lakers to bounce back because while Paul had an amazing game in Game 1, we don’t think his supporting cast will have as good a game as they did and remember, the Lakers did beat the Hornets in all four regular-season games, and those were when New Orleans had the injured David West. The Spurs have overachieved all season and we don’t think they have much left in the tank, especially against a young Memphis team who doesn’t know anything about playoff pressure and answered every punch San Antonio threw at them on Sunday. If we had to make a wager on either team to make a quick playoff exit, San Antonio would be our online sports betting pick.
