The NBA Playoffs continue Wednesday night in Game 2 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The NBA Playoff odds for the game have the Thunder favored by 8 points. The game is scheduled for a 9:30 pm start time and it will be televised live on TNT. The spread shows that bookmakers have a prediction of a win for the Thunder.

Picks: The Thunder were favored by 7.5 points in the opening game and dominated every facet of the contest, winning by 29 points. Oklahoma City is younger, hungrier, more athletic and apparently better than the Lakers. Sure, LA has arguably the best finisher in the history of the game beside Jordan in Kobe Bryant, but his teams cannot continue to get blown out the way they have been in two of their last three games. The Lakers lost five times by more than 15 points during the regular season but have rebounded well to be in the position they are currently in. However, tonight's game is going to be massive for the Lakers. In the illustrious history of the Los Angeles Lakers, the team is 2-17 when losing the first two games of a best-of-seven series. Not good when facing arguably the best overall team in the Western Conference. It's obvious Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are the two that make the Thunder go. Westbrook might be the reason the Thunder march on to win this series. However, the Lakers have a big advantage, literally, on the interior. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol better get their issues worked out inside and start to play at a much higher level if the Lakers are going to hang around in this series. Oklahoma City was the worst team in the league during the regular season at turning the ball over, but did a great job in the first game with only four giveaways. Derek Fisher is probably feeling great about ending up on OKC after playing with the Lakers forever. But all that said, the Lakers need to get better defensively on the perimeter and keep the Thunder away from getting second chance opportunities. Kobe is going to keep his team in this game tonight and if the twin towers of Bynum and Gasol can get it going, the Lakers should hang around in a tightly played game.

Prediction: We will take the Lakers and the points in tonight's game. Los Angeles, as pointed out, is just 2-17 all time when dropping the first two games of the series. That probably isn't going to change if they drop this game tonight, so expect them to have a great effort. The Thunder are also probably aware of the Lakers' record in playoff series, but maybe it's not an issue to them. Turning the ball over plagued them all season and if it happens to show itself again tonight, Los Angeles could make a good run at winning the game. That being said we'll scoop up the 8 points. Lakers 99, Thunder 96

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