Posted on 1/7/2008 3:51:48 PM

NBA Betting - In the NBA This Season What was Down is Now Up

By D.S. Williamson

Here in the land of fruits and nuts, that’s Los Angeles to those of you who aren’t in the know, we pride ourselves on embracing the strange, the weird, and the crazy!

Because of that I’ve had nothing but love for the NBA so far this season. I can’t remember such a nutty season. Who would have thought that pre-season favorite to win the Eastern Conference (they were chosen as Eastern champs by The Sporting News) Chicago Bulls would be sitting on a 13 and 19 record before their Friday match-up against the Philadelphia 76’ers?

Or that the Houston Rockets, with number one ranked (by ESPN!) player in the NBA Yao Ming at center, would have only 17 wins this season and be sitting at the top of the disappointment ladder in the Western Conference this year? The Rockets get to strut their stuff versus a worse team than them - - the Minnesota Timberwolves - - on Friday.

Why are the Rockets at the top of the disappointment ladder? Because the Los Angeles Lakers are good. The Lakeshow is only two games below the Spurs in the standings this year. I have nothing witty to say about this turnaround. Because anything witty I came up with during the off-season to say about the Lakers had to do with the size of general manager Mitch Kupchak’s brain. Well, I can’t knock the guy anymore. Not when his team is turning into a younger, faster version of the 1990’s Chicago Bulls. NOT making the Western Conference finals would be a disappointment for these guys! In their Friday game they get to whip the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Boston Celtics are awesome enough to bring back memories of the 1980’s Green Machine. They are on the road this Friday versus the New Jersey Nets. It doesn’t matter. Even though there is no white hick from French Lick on this Celtics’ team they play well enough to remind me of Larry Legends’ squad. But, this team is much smoother - - more like Glady’s Knight and the Pips than a muscled-up version of Larry’s team. Heck, I could easily see Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen singing the National Anthem before one of their blow-out wins versus the Nets - - hey, why not this Friday?

The final team I want to discuss, before highlighting a couple of games, are the Cleveland Cavaliers. The defending Eastern Conference Champions have no business losing the way they have been doing so far this NBA season. Crazy doesn’t describe it. How can a team show-up and play like all-stars during an ABC live telecast and then throw in the towel versus some of the worst teams in the NBA? This Friday the inconsistent Cavs get to burn a spread versus the Charlotte Bobcats. Losers. That’s as smart-ass as I can get. The Cavs are losers.

Okay, let’s get happy! Two big games on Friday for us to make money on:

Milwaukee Bucks (predict: + 10.5) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (predict: - 10.5) = Why not start with the Lakeshow who, if anything, have proven to be one of the more consistent teams in the NBA this season. They are 20 and 12 against the spread this season and 12 and 6 at home against the spread this year. Those are very good numbers. The Lakers have one of the younger, faster, higher-scoring teams in the NBA. They racked up 35 in the third quarter against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday. Then, they followed up that 35 point third quarter with a 22 point fourth quarter. They ended up beating the Pacers 112 to 96. That’s the sort of Zen type play that could put the Lakers into the Western Conference Championship Series. I suspect that this line may go all the way up to 12.5 or even 13 points. I’m not worried about it. The Milwaukee Bucks are a horrible team and will get absolutely throttled in this game. If the Lakers are healthy, then I expect a destruction on the level of the Titanic except there won’t be any Jack Dawson to put the Bucks onto a life-raft.

NBA Free Picks: Lakers to cover a spread up to 13 points.

Chicago Bulls (predict: + 3) vs. Philadelphia 76’ers (predict: - 3) = This game is important in the sense that you have two high-profile NBA teams going at it on a Friday night. Yeah, your’e right. That’s not enough to make it important. How about the fact that this is a big opportunity to make a nice wager on a team that has the potential to turn things around - - hint, they don’t have a statue of the greatest player of all-time in front of their arena - - versus a team that is still searching for answers? The Bulls are a bad team. There isn’t a single player on their team that has that killer instinct. That’s evident by their against the spread record of 11 and 21 overall and 6 and 10 at home. Now, Bulls’ fans are lighting up the blogs by stating that “maybe it’s time to trade Ben Wallace”. Are you kidding me, Becky? You couldn’t get Nene Hillario for Ben at this point! Heck, you couldn’t get Robert Parrish to come out of retirement for Big Ben! Wallace is washed up - - just like his team. I like the 76’ers in this game giving up 3 to 6 points.

NBA Free Picks: 76’ers to cover a spread between 3 to 6 points.

Until next week, good luck!

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