NBA Betting Odds

Eddie House has agreed to rejoin the Miami heat, signing a 2 year contract extension worth 2.8 million dollars, and has a second year player option. He will be contending for a spot off the bench supporting the cast of the Wade, Bosh, and LBJ show this coming season.

Basketball betting star, Josh Howard has agreed to a one year contract with the Washington Wizards. Acquired in a seven player trade with the Mavericks in February he torn a ligament in his knee. His March surgery will likely keep him side lined for six to eight months.

Rasual Butler has resigned with the the Los Angeles Clippers. Coming off a year of career highs he should be an excellent mainstay in their line up. He was acquired from New Orleans last august in return for a conditional second round pick in the draft.

Roger Mason, who has spent the last two years in San Antonio may find himself in Portland, Chicago, or New York this years, as all three have expressed interest in signing the veteran guard.

Nine year guard Earl Watson seems headed to either the east or west coast as both the Nets and the Lakers have expressed interest in his services.

Kyrylo Fesenko has spent all three years of his NBA career in Utah and looks to be staying there this year.

Anthony Morrow remains a free agent, with many teams including the Spurs, Lakers, Celtics, and Trailblazers attempting to land one of the biggest names left in free agency.

Boston Celtics traveled to Los Angeles for Game 6 of the 2010 NBA Finals, on Tuesday, June 15th. Riding a huge wave of momentum, Boston came in to the Staples Center, having won two games in a row over the Lakers. Unfortunately, for the Celtics, that wave of momentum came crashing down around them on Tuesday night, as the Lakers crushed them by 89-67.

On defense, Boston was horrendous and was sluggish on offense. When their starting center, Kendrick Perkins, went out with a sprained right knee, Boston’s bad luck was made even more clear. Ray Allen scored 19 for Boston and Kevin Garnett had a solid game too, scoring 12 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. Although Paul Pierce had 5 turnovers, he scored 13 points.

In Game 6, the Lakers managed to stifle Rajon Rondo, holding him to 10 points and only 6 assists. Scoring 26 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, Kobe Bryant was spectacular. Pau Gasol was also back in top form, scoring 17 points and getting 13 rebounds. Ron Artest added 6 rebounds and 15 points as well. By the end of the night, the Lakers had out-rebounded the Celtics 52-39.

To force a Game 7, the Lakers did everything they needed to do in Game 6. The players around Kobe stepped up both offensively and defensively and he played incredibly well too. It is not easy to play your best when in a must-win situation, but the Lakers did their best to make it seem like child’s play.

On Saturday night, May 29th, the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers squared off in Game 6 of their series. Going into Game 6, the basketball betting favorite, Lakers held a 3-2 series lead. The Phoenix Suns had the advantage of playing at home on their side, but it ultimately made no difference as they lost 111-103, sending the Lakers to the NBA Finals for the 2nd year in a row.

Despite the fact that the Suns were in a must-win situation, they came out flat, getting out-scored 91-74 through the first three quarters. However, they came back in a hurry in the 4th quarter, but they were unable to overcome their slow start. Kobe Bryant was especially effective for the Lakers, putting up 37 points. Lamar Odom was also great off the bench, grabbing 12 rebounds. Amare Stoudemire stepped up for Phoenix, scoring 27 points, and Steve Nash chipped in 21 points, but it simply was not enough.

In Game 5, the Suns lost a heart-breaker on a last second shot by Ron Artest, and it looked like there was a lot of carry over from that in Game 6. The Suns should have come out fiery and ready to play; instead, they were sluggish from the opening tip. They simply did not have an answer for Kobe Bryant, and the Lakers proved that they were the better, deeper team. If Phoenix could have played the whole game like they did in the 4th quarter, it could have been a different story.

The Eastern Conference Semi Finals between the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks is an interesting one. However, all odds suggest that Orlando will easily breeze through this series.

First of all, there is a lot at stake for both teams. There is plenty of pressure on the Magic to defend their championship, while the Hawks are trying to make franchise history by reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time.

Frankly, the Hawks’ lineup can’t match the Magic’s firepower. Joe Johnson’s solo efforts cannot outmatch the combinations of powerful and accurate scoring by Vince Carter and Dwight Howard.

The first round series also plays a role on the outcome of this clash. The Magic swept the Bobcats, while the Hawks barely got through the Bucks in game 7. Orlando surely comes into the Eastern Conference Semi Finals as the fresher team with more energy, while Atlanta is still somewhat fatigued. This is evident by the outcome of the first game of the series, as the Magic crushed the Hawks 114-71, one of the most convincing victories in the 2010 NBA playoffs so far.

Home court advantage proved to be a major factor, as the Magic used its crowd to intimidate and defeat the Hawks in Game 1 and Game 2. Lewis, Carter, Nelson, and Howard each scored more than 20 points in game 2 to beat the Hawks 112-98. Atlanta’s center Horford scored more points than the team’s star player Johnson, which is not a good sign.

So what are the dynamics of Game 3 of this series? to start with, Atlanta will finally have the home court advantage on Saturday night, as well as for Game 4. The Hawks must win Game 3 to have any hopes for competing in this series. However, at this point it seems that not even Atlanta fans can lift up the Hawks to a victory.

The key question regarding the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic series is whether or not Al Horford and the rest of the Hawks frontcourt can handle the likes of Dwight Howard. The Magic will need a second scorer, whether it happens to be Jameer Nelson or Rashard Lewis for example. You certainly want to make sure that Mike Bibby does not get out of control and start missing too many of his shots because it tends to impact his ball handling skills. If the Magic can cause a lot of turnovers by putting a lot of ball pressure on Bibby, the Magic can end up getting a lot of quality fast break points.

The Hawks certainly have the natural athleticism to compete with the Orlando Magic on the board, but they probably do not have the size to compete with Howard on the boards. The Hawks do have Jason Collins on their roster, it will be interesting to see if they end up activating for for the series.

The Hawks will need some quality second unit points from the likes of Maurice Evans, especially if they do not get a lot of production from the likes of Marvin Williams. Marvin Williams has got to take the ball to the post and to the basket in order to be effective.

Mike Woodson has his contract situation to worry about so the question is whether or not some of those worries will allow him to be out coached by the likes of Stan Van Gundy.

Game 5 between the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers looked like a competitive game by the end of the first quarter, but it turned into a blowout victory for the Suns as they took a 3-2 lead in the first round best –of-seven series against the Trailblazers with a 107-88 win. The Phoenix Suns were the pre-match NBA odds favorite.

Amare Stoudemire had 19 points for the Suns and Steve Nash had 14 points and 10 assist, but this game belonged to the Phoenix Suns bench who they can thank for this victory. The Suns had great help off of the bench as Channing Frye picked a good time to have one of his best games ever as a Phoenix Sun, he scored 20 points off of the bench against his former team. Dudley also had a superb game off of the bench, scoring 19 points.

The Blazers had a quick start in the game by going up early 23-9 in the first quarter, Andre miller racking up 10 points along the way. By the time the first quarter was over though they only had a one point lead 28-27. It remained a game into the third quarter where the Blazers only trailed 65-58 at one point. Suddenly though, Phoenix outscored Portland 17-7 and held a 82-65 commanding lead as they routed the Blazers the rest of the way.

In order for the Blazers to win game 6 on Thursday and keep this series alive, they are going to have to slow the game down a bit. In game 5, the Trailblazers played right into the hands of the Suns hands as they let the Suns play the quick temp game that they prefer to play. Game 6 is Thursday night in Portland.