In a crucial Game 4, all eyes are on Kobe Bryant to see whether or not he
will be able to rise up and try to put the Orlando Maic on the brink of
elimination. Will Orlando be able to hold him under 32 points?
Kobe Bryant is a man on a mission. He’s out to cement his legacy as one of
the greatest players of all time, and prove to the world that he can win a
championship without the help of Shaquille O’Neal. All that stands in his way
now are two more wins, and they will have to come at the expense of the Orlando
Magic.
A younger Bryant would have likely been looking to pad his stats and take the
game over by himself en route to earning his championship ring. But a wiser,
game tested Kobe Bryant is likely less interested in his personal stat line and
more interested in just picking up the W and getting his team one step closer to
a championship.
So how many points will Kobe end up with? Will this be one of those games
that he single handedly takes over and scores at will in, or will he be
spreading the ball around to his teammates to keep Orlando guessing at the
expense of his own scoring line? I’d argue that he’ll take whatever Orlando
gives him.
Betting props on Kobe Bryant have the over/under set at 31.5 points for Kobe
Bryant tonight. Value seems to be apparent on the under when you take a close
look at the numbers. Bryant averaged 26.8 points per game on the season, and is
also facing a better than average defense in the Orlando Magic, which would
suggest that points will be even harder to come by. That being said, it can be
argued that the playoffs are a different beast altogether as adrenaline rises
and the team’s key players are called upon more. So far in the playoffs, Bryant
has averaged 30.1 points per game; still under the set total.
Over bettors will point out that Bryant has gone over 31.5 points in 11 of
the 21 games he has played in so far, including a 40 point effort in Game 1
against Orlando and coming only one point short in Game 3 while shooting an
uncharacteristically bad 50% at the line.
Considering the public’s adoration of Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers,
it makes sense that the total is probably set a half point or so higher than
actual expectation just to temper the action that will come in on the over.
Looking at Kobe Bryant’s complete body of work from the regular season and what
he has done so far in the playoffs, it looks as though there is some
mathematical edge to taking the under on this prop tonight.
The Pick
: Kobe Bryant Under 31.5 Points