Posted on 12/10/2007 2:02:20 PM

Bet on Basketball - Young NBA Season Already Full Of Twists and Turns

By Eric Williams

Okay NBA bettors, with the young NBA season starting to heat up as temperatures across the country begin to drastically drop, it’s time to take a look at the top surprise teams in the league - both good and bad – and focus in on one team in particular in an effort to give my beloved pro basketball bettors the best opportunities possible to increase their respective basketball bankrolls.

First up is the Orlando Magic, who are tied with the Phoenix Suns at 16-5 for the third best record in the league behind the Boston Celtics, (17-2) and San Antonio Spurs, (17-3).

Led by new head coach Stan Van Gundy and man-child Dwight Howard, the Orlando is off to one of the best starts in franchise history and looks like they’re going to be one of the top contenders in the east all season long. The Magic have also transferred their on-court success into the best ATS record in the league by far. At 17-4 ATS, Orlando is certainly one of the top teams that bettors need to watch for the remainder of the regular season.

Another team that has been pleasantly surprising so far is the Los Angeles Lakers who have identical 12-8 SU and ATS records, despite starting the season with a mountain of turmoil surrounding the multitude of possible Kobe Bryant trade rumors. The Lakers have won three straight games at the time of this writing and have the look of a team that is going to be much better toward the end of the regular season than they are right now. With Bryant shooting and scoring less – and the unexpected emergence of several young players like Jordan Farmar and Andrew Bynum, the Lakers are suddenly starting to look like they may be able to compete for a championship title before the end of the decade.

My feel-good team for the season is the young Atlanta Hawks who are only 9-10 at the moment, but have clearly improved drastically from the demoralized team that ended the 3006-07 season.

Atlanta is a solid 6-5 at home this season and so-so 3-5 on the road, but more importantly, has displayed the kind of fight in every game, even their losses, that show this team is tired of losing. While it may sound like a joke right now, bettors and fans had better keep an eye on the Atlanta Hawks in the next couple of seasons – starting right now.

My two biggest surprises on the negative side are the Chicago Bulls, (6-12 SU, 6-12 ATS, 7-11 O/U) and Dallas Mavericks, (13-8 SU, 8-13 ATS, 13-8 O/U).

The Bulls, expected to be one of the top teams in the eastern conference this season, have struggled since opening night while the team’s young players were dealing with the uncertainty of whether or not they would be involved in several proposed trades involving Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant.

Chicago has losing records both at home and on the road and has struggled with the league’s lowest scoring offense, (89.3 points per game). Suddenly, instead of contenders, the Bulls look like also-rans behind the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic.

The Dallas Mavericks sport a solid 13-8 record, but are just 4-6 in their last ten games and look nothing like the team that has been one of the top two or three teams in the western conference for the past four seasons.

The Mavericks are clearly lacking a leader with finishing power, though it has become apparent this season that small forward Josh Howard, and not last season’s MVP, Dirk Nowitzki, is the team’s best and most ‘un-guardable’ player.

Dallas’ consecutive postseason collapses, first in the NBA Finals to the Miami Heat and last season’s nearly historic collapse at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, may have been the precursors to a change in the Mavericks’ roster that is now clearly necessary.

Watch Out

Finally, the Denver Nuggets are my ‘watch out’ team for the 2007-08 season. Looking at the Nuggets’ roster, it’s difficult to understand why this team hasn’t been more successful. However, with two superstars in Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony – and several other veteran players like center Marcus Camby and power forwards Eduardo Najera and Nene who know how to succeed in their respective roles, it’s easy to see the Nuggets transforming into one of the top contenders in the western conference – if they ever learn to play some defense that is.

Denver is third in the league in scoring, averaging 107.1 points per game, but is ranked just 24th in defense, allowing a whopping 102.1 points per game. For Denver to really enter the league’s elite, they will have to become a better overall defensive unit under veteran head coach George Karl, a very real possibility as the season wears on.

Last but not least, let’s take a look at the struggling Bulls and their upcoming schedule in an effort to give bettors a better read on Chicago’s near future.

Despite being ranked dead last in offense, the Bulls are ranked eighth in defense, allowing an average of 94.4 points per game on 44.3 percent shooting from the field.
Unfortunately, the team is making just 39.7 percent of its shots, also good for dead last in the league and make only 31.2 percent, (29th) of their tree-point attempts, despite having one of the league’s best shooters in Ben Gordon.

Chicago takes on the atrocious New York Knicks Friday night at home in a contest the Bulls will undoubtedly be favored in, though the line may not be by much. Even at this early date, I’m going to advise bettors to take the Bulls to win in a big way while taking out their season-long frustrations on the beleaguered Knicks who are just 6-13 at the time of this writing and coming off consecutive losses to the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Bulls will face the Los Angeles Lakers at home on Dec. 18 in their first game following their matchup with the Knicks with a road matchup against the Washington Wizards the very next night and matchups at Boston on Dec. 21 and at home against the Houston Rockets on Dec. 22.

Chicago is just 3-5 at home ATS and 3-7 on the road while the Lakers are 5-4 ATS on the road and the Celtics 8-2 ATS at home and the Rockets 5-8 ATS on the road.

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