Sports betting saw Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson getting an historic win on Wednesday as the Lakers defeated the Charlotte Bobcats. Jackson passed Pat Riley for first all-time in Lakers history with his 534th win. Those who took the Lakers in Internet sportsbetting though were not rewarded since Los Angeles did not cover the spread.
Sportsbetting on the Lakers had been up and down this season. The Lakers are .500 at home laying points this Internet sports betting season. One of the reasons the Lakers didn’t cover in sportsbetting on Wednesday was that leading scorer Kobe Bryant was injured in the game. Sports betting stats indicated that Lamar Odom had 19 points while Andrew Bynum had 17 points and 14 rebounds as the Lakers won by two points over Charlotte.
The win was all about Jackson passing Riley in the Los Angeles record books. Sportsbetting had Jackson with 534 wins with the Lakers to go along with his 545 wins with the Bulls. Internet sportsbetting stats have him at fifth on the NBA’s career coaching victory list. ”It’s been a really good run,” Jackson said. ”Having this opportunity to coach this team is always special. The fact that we’ve had some great teams, great players, is always a credit to them. It’s not really an individual record in my mind.”
The Lakers were able to win even though they got just five points from Kobe. His foot was stepped on by Odom and he had to leave the game for awhile and did nothing when he returned. ”It was just stiff – stiff and tight,” said Bryant, ”Lamar stepped on my foot as I was changing directions, so it just made it worse. It just set it back to Square One.”
The Lakers did get 14 points each from Pau Gasol and Ron Artest. Los Angeles had just returned home after an eight-game road trip and they looked tired. ”We struggled against them for a while, and we were able to play pretty well even though it wasn’t our best game,” Gasol said. The Lakers made a run at the sports betting number in the fourth quarter as they led by eight but they quickly gave that lead away and had to hang on for a two point win.
Los Angeles is 13-13-1 at home this season versus the sports betting odds. They are 9-13-1 away from home vs. the Internet sports betting number.