Kobe Bryant got his fourth title, coach Phil Jackson has his 10th, and just like that the Los Angeles Lakers earned their 15th national championship victory. Bryant scored 30 points and Pau Gasol added 14 and 15 rebounds on the night.

Coach Jackson now holds the record as the winningest coach in NBA finals history, a record that until tonight was held by Boston coach Red Auerbach as the winningest coach in finals history.

"I'll smoke the cigar tonight in memory of Red," Jackson said. "He was a great guy."

So that leaves…baseball? There's plenty of MLB baseball betting at the Bodog Sportsbook!

The Los Angeles Lakers took a stranglehold on the series following a 99-91 ATS victory (NBA Odds listed the Lakers as +1.5 underdogs in that game) over the Orlando Magic on Thursday night.

Derek Fisher drained a three-pointer with 4.6 seconds remaining in regulation, then hit the go-ahead three with 31 seconds left in overtime.

The Lakers, who won their second overtime of the final, take a 3-1 series lead with Game 5 set for Orlando on Sunday night.

Dwight Howard did all he could do in Game 4 with 16 points, 21 rebounds, and a Finals-record nine blocked shots. The only blemish on an amazing night for Howard was that he missed eight free throws.

Only eight NBA teams have come back from a 3-1 hole in a best-of-seven series and it would be a shocker if the Magic made it nine.

Is it a sign of things to come? Bryant and the Lakers have been bouncing back since the start of the postseason. In the pursuit of a 15th NBA crown  they are 6-0 after a playoff loss. They can regain control of the best-of-seven series, but they'd better be careful not to give Orlando any more momentum.

As the Magic showed in Game 3, all you need is a hot night of shooting. During one stretch in the opening half, Orlando made a remarkable 21 of 24 shots.

Can the 2-point favored Magic do it again or will the real Kobe Bryant return and close out Game 4?

]]> http://beat.bodoglife.com/sports/the-nba-finals-game-4-odds-lakers-magic-55172.html/feed/ 0 http://beat.bodoglife.com/sports/nba-finals-game-3-odds-lakers-at-magic-76034.html http://beat.bodoglife.com/sports/nba-finals-game-3-odds-lakers-at-magic-76034.html#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:05:40 +0000 Elizabeth Fairview http://beat.bodoglife.com/?p=26298 Orlando has been able to come back from seemingly every heartbreak this season. They have fought off injuries, four last-second losses in the playoffs, and series deficits in two rounds. But this could be too tough a challenge. Only three teams have won a title after losing the first two games in the Finals, most recently Miami over Dallas in 2006.

The Magic, who are listed as 4-point favorites tonight, would need quite a turnaround. Their backcourt has been dreadful to the point of Hedo Turkoglu left to run the point.

The underdog is 7-1 ATS in the last eight meetings and the final score has hit the over in the last five meetings in Orlando.

The only good news for Magic fans, if you can call it that, is the team covered as 6.5-point underdogs.
Pau Gasol scored seven of his 24 points in overtime and Kobe Bryant finished with 29 for the Lakers, who became the fifth straight team to win the first two games of the series at home.

Since the NBA went to the 2-3-2 format in 1985, 11 of 12 teams winning the first two games have gone on to win the championship. Game 3 is on Tuesday night at Amway Arena.

It was the 10th time he has scored 40 or more in the playoffs.

Game 2 is Sunday night at Staples Center where celebrities had front-row seats to see another amazing performance by Bryant, who scored 18 points in the third quarter as the Lakers opened a 26-point lead and embarrassed the Magic.

The Magic, who went 2-0 against the Lakers in the regular season, appeared a touch overwhelmed in their first Finals appearance since 1995. Get your NBA betting with Bodog now.

The Lakers enter this one listed as 6-point favorites.

That makes sense if you look at history. The Lakers have won 14 titles, while Orlando has 0.

The Lakers have won 61 finals games, with Orlando yet again sitting with 0.

Phil Jackson has nine championship rings, while Stan Van Gundy has 1 as an assistant.

But when placing your bets, keep in mind that the Magic won both regular-season matchups against the Lakers and are capable of an upset.

That seems even more tempting when you consider the underdog is 6-0 ATS in the last six meetings between these teams. Get all your NBA finals odds in the Bodog Sportsbook.

The Nuggets might very well be the better team in the Western Conference Finals, with a deeper bench than the Lakers. But they also tend to implode at the worst times.

If it were not for botched inbounds passes that cost them Games 1 and 3, the Nuggets would have had a chance at brooming the Lakers right out of the playoffs.

The Lakers finally discovered ways to get more balanced play, especially from their bigs in Game 5. Now they will be looking to close out on the road on Friday night, as 5.5-point underdogs.

The mild-mannered Gasol complained about only taking four shots in the second half of a 120-101 loss at Denver on Monday night that left the Western Conference Finals tied at two.

Gasol went 8 of 11 for 21 points in Game 4. He's shooting 62 percent in the series, but he had only four free throws in the fourth quarter Monday.

The Lakers' frontcourt of Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum were no match for Denver's trio of Nene, Kenyon Martin, and Chris Andersen, who dominated the boards 42-25 in Game 4. What the 6-point favored Lakers really need is a dose of energy and effort tonight at Staples Center, where the Nuggets won Game 2. Get your NBA conference finals odds with Bodog now.

In their half-dozen blowouts at the Pepsi Center in these playoffs, the Nuggets had turned their crowd into a major factor by using their transition game, pull-up 3s, kick-outs and rim-rattling dunks to turn tight games into runaways and their arena into a jet engine.

Against Los Angeles, however, the 3-pointers rimmed out all night, allowing the Lakers to stick around long enough for Kobe Bryant to win it for them in the fourth quarter.

The 4.5-point underdog Lakers are 11-4 ATS in the last 15 meetings and the underdog is 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings between these clubs. Get all your NBA conference finals odds in the Bodog Sportsbook today.