Basketball Betting

Los Angeles Lakers (41-25, 26-7 home) will look to seal the series in Game 5 (10:30 PM ET, May 8, 2012) at STAPLES Center, Los Angeles, CA against Denver Nuggets (38-28, 18-15 away). The Lakers lead the seven series game by 3-1. The betting odds have the Nuggets (23/10), while the Lakers (2/5).

Kobe Bryant is looking comfortable in setting up his teammates to be heroes by drawing a double-team. in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series, he did it to the Denver Nuggets and he would be happy to do it again in Game 5 on Tuesday night, when the Lakers go for the clinching victory.

The Lakers’ late-game poise and strategy have not changed, as evidenced late in the toughest game of their first-round series, although this season, Fisher has been replaced by Steve Blake and Ramon Sessions. Pau Gasol set up Sessions’ tiebreaking 3-pointer before Bryant fed Blake for the backbreaking 3-pointer and a 3-1 series lead in the final minute of Game 4.

There’s no obvious leader to take a key late-game shot and in the final minute of Game 4 drew attention to what’s considered a problem for Denver’s balanced roster. In the last few weeks, the Lakers have done it impressively, particularly while Bryant rested his bruised shin for eight late-season games. By eliminating Denver for the third time in five postseasons, they can book a second-round date with Oklahoma City. In the series’ two games at Staples Center, Bryant scored 69 points, but just 44 in two games in Denver. Instead, he encouraged his teammates to step up and he doubled his assists total.

Los Angeles does not have the Nuggets’ depth, while Denver does not have the Lakers’ star power. During a transitional season from Phil Jackson’s strategies to Brown’s innovations, the Lakers are trying to develop their supporting cast. The Lakers’ bench has been largely ineffective in recent weeks outside of Jordan Hill, who has developed abruptly into a dynamic rebounder and energy player, even though the bit players hit several big shots in Game 4. Most notably, Matt Barnes failed to step into an increased role during Metta World Peace’s suspension. He has a dismal 1 for 14 on 3-pointers against Denver.

Denver still cannot impose its speedy tempo on the bulky, disciplined Lakers and its superior bench has not translated into success. A wealth of knowledge was gathered by Kenneth Faried and JaVale McGee during the first playoff series of their careers, but they are already facing elimination for the first time.

Atlanta Hawks will contest against Boston Celtics at TD Garden, Boston, MA (8:00 PM ET, April 11, 2012; CSNN) for Game 2 in the three game series. The Celtics lead the series 1-0. The Hawks have a 34-23, 15-15 away record while the Celtics have a 33-24, 20-9 home record. The Celtics and the Hawks are rounding into playoff form, although there are still two weeks left in the regular season. The best NBA betting odds for Atlanta Hawks (23/17), while for Boston Celtics (8/13)

The Celtics look to continue their recent success over the Hawks on Wednesday night in this potential playoff preview, with each team trying for a fourth consecutive victory. Boston (33-24) has won 18 of 25 and leads the Atlantic Division by three games while sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference, despite an aging core group of stars. All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo said that it took a while, although they were peaking at the right time.

The Celtics are just ahead of fifth-place Atlanta (34-23) in the conference. The Hawks have won 10 of 14, because of their division lead. Atlanta rookie forward Ivan Johnson said that they were already in playoff mode. Including 79-76 at Atlanta on March 19 in the only meeting this season, Boston has won three of four against the Hawks. In a game where both clubs failed to shoot 40 percent, Ray Allen scored 19 points while Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett combined for 29 as the Celtics prevailed.

Garnett had 24 and Rondo added 18 with 15 assists as Boston shot a season-high 60.6 percent Tuesday while beating Miami for the second time in 10 days, 115-107, pierce scored 27 points. Heat star Dwyane Wade said that it is going to be tough to beat them if they persist to shoot well. Boston has topped 100 in each of the last two games while shooting 59.7 percent, although they average 91.9 points.

In the last 12 games, Pierce has averaged 22.6 points on 48.7 percent shooting, while Garnett has totaled 44 and gone 19 of 25 from the field in the last two. The Hawks are a confident group, though Boston has played well overall and held Atlanta to an average of 82.5 points on 39.6 percent shooting in the last four meetings. Atlanta remains in the hunt for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, despite having injured center Al Horford for 11 games.

Atlanta has beaten Charlotte twice and Detroit by an average of 17.3 points and has averaged 112.3 points over the past three games. During Saturday’s 116-96 win in Charlotte, Joe Johnson scored 18 points and Zaza Pachulia added 12 with 16 rebounds as eight Hawks scored in double figures. Pachulia has averaged 15.5 points and 11.5 rebounds in the last two games against the Celtics.

The Los Angeles Lakers (+195) embark on their quest for another Western Conference title as the favorites to unseat last years NBA champs, the Dallas Mavericks (+425). The Lakers get a boost by returning Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. The threesome can combine as a better threesome than the Miami Heat‘s dream team combo.

The Mavericks and Lakers made one of the oddest trades in NBA history when the Lakers traded Lamar Odom for a No. 1 draft pick. Odom, the NBA’s best sixth man, will be on a mission every time he faces the Lakers during the regular season and the post season.

A team that is no longer under the radar are the Oklahoma City Thunder (+255). Kevin Durant needs just one more player to help him compete for a title but Durant and his teammates gave the Lakers all they could handle last season.

The Los Angeles Clippers (+350) have a chance to wrest the Western Conference title away from the Lakers but the sports betting sites are giving good odds for anyone willing to take a chance on Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.

The Memphis Grizzlies (+1075) are next on the list of challengers that can unseat the Mavericks. The Grizzlies showed confidence last season in the NBA playoffs and they have the potential to upset teams once the playoffs begin.

The San Antonio Spurs (+1675) are on their last legs and they are on their way to going into rebuilding mode soon. The Spurs showed their age in the playoffs last season and it is a matter of time before they trade away their star Tony Parker.

No one else in the Western Conference has much of a chance to compete. the Portland Trailblazers (+2050) had a chance to make a run for the playoffs but injuries have slowed them down.

Final verdict: Lakers will once again repeat as Western Conference Champions.

This Tuesday at 8 o’clock Eastern Time, the Atlanta Hawks and the Chicago Bulls will battle against each other in the 5th game of their best of 7 game series. In a game that will have a huge effect on how the series will play out, both these teams will square off. At this time the series is tied 2-2.

Even though the Hawks just won’t go away and they managed an impressive victory in their last game, the Bulls looked like they were ready to pull away in the series previous to the last game.

If the Hawks were going to win it, Joe Johnson would have to have a good series as it was said before the series. He has looked great in a couple of his games and that is good news for the Hawks. He has really come through with some solid performances in the 2 wins for the Hawks, while he has struggled in a couple of his games.

With the over/under total at 181, NBA Odds have the Bulls as an 8.5-point, -480 moneyline favorite.

Johnson’s 3 point shooting has been one of the keys for him in the playoffs. Although he has been shooting nearly 49 percent since the postseason’s start, he shot just 30 percent from behind the arc during the regular season. The Bulls may be in trouble in this series if he can continue to shoot at that clip.

Out of Carlos Boozer the Bulls are still waiting for some consistency. Even though he hasn’t shown up for the playoffs, he was a force offensively and on the boards during the season for the Bulls. He has only had at least 10 rebounds once during the series as he has only scored his regular season average one time during this season. From Boozer the Bulls want more.

The Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat will play this weekend in game 1 of what will be the most highly anticipated matchup to this point in the playoffs (3:30 pm ET, ABC).

The Heat are a 5-point, -220 moneyline favorite and the over/under total is 182.5 in online betting.

The Boston Celtics were the representatives for the Eastern Conference in the Finals last season and they hope to return to take another shot at winning the title. While they have looked good for the better part of the season, they struggled a bit towards the end of the season and there are some concerns that the Celtics may not have it in them to take on teams like the Heat and the Bulls during the playoffs.

The Heat will definitely have the advantage of having a younger, quicker team. They have 3 stars on their team. Wade and James are two of the best players in the NBA in the open court and they will try to beat the Celtics back on defense and capitalize for some easy buckets. The Heat will need James and Wade to step up and play like they are 2 of the best players in the NBA in this series.

During the season James and Wade did not exactly play at their highest level against the Celtics and the Celtics dominated the season series as a result. The Celtics need to try to employ a similar game plan in this series.

Chalmers stepped up at times during the last series for the Heat, hitting 3 point shots to help carry the Heat through tough times during the game. If Chalmers has a couple of similar games during the series, the Heat will be difficult to beat.

The 2011 NBA playoffs first round series between the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks will be a repeat of last year’s second round or Eastern Conference Semifinals series. Last year, the Magic overpowered the Hawks with a clean and confident 4-0 sweep. With that in mind, coach Stand Van Gundy has got to love his chances of repeating last year’s performance.

NBA Betting has Atlanta at 100-1 and Orlando at 12-1 to win the NBA championship.

The Magic finished 2011 with a better record than Atlanta, but the difference of several victories doesn’t say much about the post-season form of each team.

During the regular 2010-2011 season, the two teams faced each other four times. The Magic defeated Atlanta in a pre-season game, and then won the first regular season meeting early in November. Since then, the Hawks got revenge with three consecutive victories. However, the season results can be misleading because of several major trades and absences of some players.

The Magic’s squad changed drastically since the beginning of the season. Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis, who were instrumental in Magic’s success of the last few years, were traded. Nevertheless, Magic added some serious firepower to its roster with the acquisition of Hedo Turkoglu and Gilbert Arenas. However, their performance wasn’t effective to lead the Magic to victories against the Hawks in the regular season.

When talking about the Hawks in this first round playoff series, there won’t be any surprises. Johnson, Horford, and Smith have been consistent all season long, and they put up good numbers in the encounters against the Magic.

The matchup that is going to get the most attention in this playoff series will involved the centers. Jason Collins will be given the toughest task for Atlanta, which is to stop Orlando’s big man Dwight Howard, whose sheer power is hard to match by anyone in the league.

This weekend in a game that will be played in San Antonio, the Utah Jazz will battle against the San Antonio Spurs.

In basketball betting Odds, the Spurs are at 7-2 to win the 2011 NBA Championship.

As the season comes to a close, this game will be a very vital game for the Spurs. Even though the Spurs are being chased by the Lakers for the top spot in the Western Conference, they are the top team in the league. The Lakers have won 9 of their last 10 games overall as they pose a serious threat as they have lost just 2 games since the All-Star game.

The Spurs have been playing poorly during this stretch. They look like a team that might be getting worn out from a long season as they have won just 4 of their last 6 games. Even though the Spurs also need to win enough games to maintain the top spot ahead of the Lakers, they need to get ready for the playoffs.

The Jazz continue to fall further down the standings as they have been terrible since the departure of Deron Williams. The Jazz are now 5 games below .500 and they have lost 8 games in a row after a fantastic start to the season. They look like a team that has been defeated as this team has been poor while playing at home and on the road. In this game the Jazz will need a miracle to get things going.

The Spurs should be able to take home a victory in this one as they need to play their normal game.

With the 2011 NBA playoffs just around the corner, the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns are focused on finishing the season strong. However, both teams are in completely different positions when it comes to the post-season race.

San Antonio has slipped to 8-1 to win the NBA title in NBA Odds while the Suns are at 40-1.

The Spurs have had the best record in the league for most of the season and will cruise to the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Suns are hanging on thin ropes right now when it comes to making the playoffs. By the end of February, it seemed that Phoenix would be a contender for the post-season. However, the Suns had disappointing performances in March and have dropped out of the top eight of the Western Conference recently.

When the Suns and Spurs clash Sunday (1 pm ET, ABC), the game will have different meanings for each team. For Phoenix, every victory is precious and gets the Suns closer to the playoffs. On the other hand, the Spurs route to the playoffs will not be affected by the outcome of Sunday’s game.

Although the Spurs can afford to slack off, they will probably still want to impress the home crowd on Sunday. Given the fact that San Antonio won both previous meetings against the Phoenix, the Spurs will be confident playing at the AT&T Center.

It is also interesting to note that both teams will clash once again in several weeks, which will be the final regular season match for each team. With that in mind, the Spurs could potentially face the Suns in the playoffs, and these two games in April will give great previews on the potential post-season clashes.

Steve Nash hasn’t been a threatening offensive force for the Suns in the last few games, and this is something that must change if Phoenix wants to leave the court with victories. The Spurs have recently suffered a 4 game losing streak for the first time this season, and this has hurt the team’s confidence. It is also something that the Suns can exploit on Sunday.

In the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament, the Brigham Young University Cougars will battle against one the University of Florida Gators on Thursday.

In March Madness betting Odds and Sweet 16 Betting, Florida is a 3-point favorite.

They are among the final 16 teams remaining in the tournament as these teams have reached the Sweet 16. When the Cougars took out the Gators in the first round through the heroics of Jimmer Fredette this will be a rematch of last year’s NCAA Tournament.

After leading the nation in scoring and leading BYU to a fantastic season, Jimmer is without doubt the leading candidate for the Player of the Year award for NCAA basketball. The defense of the Cougars may be the most important aspect of this game while Jimmer is the key to the offense of the Cougars.

Since losing starting center Brandon Davies the Cougars have struggled with their interior defense. Davies will not be available for the entirety of the tournament as he was suspended due to a BYU Honor Code violation. There have been a few games without Davies where the Cougars have struggled to stop teams with athletic big-men. Florida may be able to tear apart the Cougars on the inside as they have a handful of very athletic big-men.

The Gators will have to find a way to limit the contributions of Jimmer whether or not the Gators are able to score on the inside. It is nearly impossible to guard Jimmer, when he is on fire. It is possible to force Fredette into making turnovers with an effective double team, while this is the case.

Having allowed Jimmer the opportunity to find the open man before pressure was applied, there have been several teams that have double teamed him too far away from the hoop. The Gators will need to focus on employing an effective double team if they want to slow down Fredette.

For the third time during the 2010-2011 seasons, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers will square off On Sunday March 20. In early April there will also be a fourth and final meeting between the two teams. The Lakers will enjoy the home advantage in front of a full Staples Arena eager to cheer on the home team en route to the highly anticipated playoffs for Sunday’s evening game.

To win the NBA Championship this season, NBA Odds have the Lakers at 6-1.

The Lakers shouldn’t be concerned about the upcoming game, based on the previous results. With convincing victories at home and away, Los Angeles dismantled Portland. Even though Lamar Odom and Paul Gasol stepped up with 20 and 21 points, respectively, in the first encounter against the Blazers in November, the Lakers comfortably won 121-96. Kobe Bryant had only 12 points.

The Lakers put on a similar performance and beat the Blazers 106-101 in overtime, several months later in February. Even though it wasn’t enough for a victory, the fans at the Rose Garden made it a closer game. By leading the game with 37 points, Kobe Bryant had a much better night than the previous meeting against the Blazers.

While the Blazers lost three, as far as momentum and expectations, the Lakers are more confident right now, losing only one game in March so far. The Blazers are fighting for a playoff spot with teams such as Memphis and Utah as there is also much more pressure on the Blazers, who are ranked seventh in the Western Conference. The Lakers hope to finish the season strong before defending their NBA championship title in the post-season as they are chasing the first or second spot in the conference for now.