Lakers At Pacers

The Lakers(28-18) continue their 8 game road trip with game number 3 tonight against the Indiana Pacers(24-21) at Conseco Fieldhouse. The Lakers currently sit in the 6th spot in the Western Conference, but only 1 1/2 back of both Houston and Utah. Finishing out this road trip and final 2 games before the All-Star break will prove key to the Lakers playoff seeding.

Tonight's game will be huge as the Lakers have to play tomorrow night against Washington in the second half of a back to back. The Pacers are a solid team, but are just as their record shows, no better than .500. At 5-5 in their last 10 they aren't coming in either hot or cold either. They ket for the Lakers will be what else...DEFENSE! Just as it has been all season, the Lakers will not lose if they play 48 minutes of good defense. They have not done so all year. In every game they have played good defense, they have come out ahead. The matchup to watch will be Lamar Odom matched up against Troy Murphy. Murphy has played well since coming over to the Pacers from Golden State and will make Odom work defensively. This will put Odom's conditioning to the test because he is not 100% coming back from his knee injury. Odom should be able to post up Murphy on the other end though, as Murphy has been critisized for being soft since coming into the league out of Notre Dame. Another matchup to watch will be Andrew Bynum against Jermaine O'neil. O'Neil, averaging nearly 20 PPG, is a tough matchup for anyone, but especially for Bynum, who has been plagued by foul trouble on a consistant basis. The Lakers' guards will have to help him out by providing pressure on the passers and make it difficult for the Pacers to get the ball into O'Neil.

Game time is set for 4 PM PST/7 EST and can be heard live on AM 570 and seen on a delay at 5:30 PM PST on Kcal 9, with LTV at 5 PM. For all those who get the channel, tonight's game will be the premier of the Lakers in HD on Kcal.

Predicted score: Lakers 102-Pacers 94... GO LAKERS!!!