20* Lakers/Knicks ESPN Friday No-Brainer on Los Angeles -3.5

LA Lakers vs. New York, 02/10/2012 20:00 EDT, Score: 85 - 92

Point Spread: -3½/-105 LA Lakers

Sportsbook: JustBet

Result: Loss

The Los Angeles Lakers are clearly the superior team, and that will show on the court tonight. They come in with a ton of confidence after beating the Boston Celtics in overtime last night, picking up a signature road win that has been eluding them. I look for L.A. to build off that performance by destroying New York here.

The Knicks have actually won two straight games without Carmelo Anthony or Amare Stoudemire. As I've seen in year's past, teams can win right away without their superstar(s), but it eventually catches up to them withing a few games.

New York is getting way too much respect with this line due to all the hype that PG Jeremy Lin is receiving. While Lin has played well, he has led the Knicks to wins over the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards, which is no big achievement. He and the Knicks' run comes to an end tonight against a legitimate opponent.

While the Lakers will be playing the second of a back-to-back, it won't affect them because they came into the Boston game on two days' rest. This team will give just as good of an effort as they did last night, which will be more than enough to beat the Knicks by 4-plus points.

The Lakers are 9-0 in their last nine meetings with New York dating back to 2007, winning eight times by 5 points or more. Kobe Bryant always gets up to play in Madison Square Garden, where he holds the single-game scoring record of 61 points. Bet the Lakers Friday.