Posted on
4/24/2008 2:02:20 PM
NBA Furious Playoff Picks 2008 – Wizards Taunting Wrong Guy
By Tim Furious
Cleveland Cavaliers (45-37) vs. Washington Wizards (43-39)
Thursday, April 24th --- Verizon Center, Washington --- 8:00pm Est
Series: Cleveland 2-0
NBA Betting Line: Washington -5 (189.5)
Strategy is everything in online sports betting. Betting online on basketball is no different. Washington may want to rethink their stance on this whole “Hack-a-Bron” strategy, because it only seems to be enraging the bull. Lebron completely dominated Washington in the first two games with 31.0 points, 8.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game. There was literally nobody that could stop LeBron, unless you count the malicious foul by Brandon Haywood. Seriously, Haywood, are you trying to piss off the best player to come in to the league in the last five years?
The problem for Washington is that they are getting away from their game plan by attacking LeBron James. They need to take control of the scoring by spreading the ball out and relying on their so-called toughness to win this series. That’s not going to happen because, first of all, LeBron is 6-foot-9 and 260 pounds. Second of all, the Cavs are a massive team. They boast Joe Smith, Big Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Iglauskas alone. Less focus needs to be paid to beating up LeBron, and more needs to be focused on taking control of their own possessions.
Washington may get that chance against Cleveland tonight. They are 4-2 ATS in their last 6 games at home, and are 5-1 SU over that same span. The big question marks are Gilbert Arenas’ health, and whether the 1-3-1 ATS record Washington has in the last five games when hosting Cleveland will continue.
No offense to Jamieson, Agent Zero or Tough Juice (Caron Butler), but I just don’t see anyway that the Wizards can effectively shut down LeBron James. The Cavs are 4-1 ATS in the last five games when playing Washington, and covered the spread in mid-March when they lost to Washington by two-points.
The Wizards can poke and prod and irritate LeBron all they want. But short of running him over with the team bus, there’s nothing they can legitimately do to stop The King. Washington will steal one of the games at home, but until coach Eddie Jordan figures out how to slow down LeBron, I’m encouraging you to bet on LBJ and the Cavs with the points.
NBA Betting Line: Cleveland +5 (OVER)
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