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Ron Artest saves the day for the Lakers in game five

May 28th, 2010

The defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers have had an interesting postseason to say the least as they have had it very easy at times and have also really struggled at times.

In the first round of the playoffs, a young and motivated Oklahoma City Thunder team lead by arguably the best scorer in the league in Kevin Durant gave the Los Angeles Lakers a run for their money as they beat the defending champs twice. Even though the Lakers eventually advanced to the second round after six games, Kobe Bryant and company were tested much earlier than anticipated and many people started second guessing the Lakers chances of repeating as NBA champs.

In the second round, things got much easier as the Lakers faced off against an outmatched Utah Jazz team which went down in four games. After the sweep of the Jazz, the defending champs looked like they were back to form, but they still had to get through their division rivals in the Western Conference Finals going head to head against the Phoenix Suns.

Despite the Phoenix Suns having somewhat of an unexpected breakout year after trading Shaquille O’Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers were the overwhelming favorite to advance to the NBA Finals.

In the first two games of these Western Conference Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers were on fire as just dominated the Phoenix Suns from start to finish in both games one and two. Not only were the Lakers playing great as a team, but Kobe Bryant was damn near unstoppable as the Suns just had no answer for the Black Mamba.

Heading into game five, the series had taken a drastic change as the Phoenix Suns were able to win two straight games on their home floor with some solid zone defense that completely confused the Lakers offense.

Throughout most of game five, the Lakers got back to their dominate ways and at one point got out to an 18 point lead, but the Suns were able to battle back and cut the lead to just three in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter.

With time running out, the Suns only hope was to hit a desperation three and that they did with Jason Richardson get lucky with a banked three with 3.5 seconds remaining.

Of course, as usual, this was Kobe time! Everyone knew that the reigning NBA Finals MVP was getting the basketball, but they did expect him to try and pull off a catch-and-shot with 3.5 on the clock. Despite having plenty of time to set up a good shot, Kobe immediately shot the ball will missed everything, but luckily Ron Artest was there to save the day as he caught Kobe’s air ball and put it right back up to finish off the Suns 103-101.

Needless to say, with time expiring, Artest’s put-back turned out to be the game-winner and despite just scoring four points, Ron-Ron was the hero in game five.

Now the series will head back to Phoenix for game six in which the Suns will be facing elimination for the first time in the Western Conference Finals.

Tags: Lakers, NBA, Ron Artest
Posted in NBA, Online Sportsbooks

Gilbert Arenas following in LeBron James footsteps by changing his number to 6

March 12th, 2010

It has been a very disappointing few years for Agent Zero of the Washington Wizards as he has either been riding the pine with injuries or causing trouble off the court, but one thing remains the same for Gilbert Arenas, he is getting paid! Not all that long ago, the Washington Wizards made a bold move by signing Gilbert Arenas to a huge seven year contract of $110 million dollars. Now that sounded like a deal that was worth to the team a few years back, but now it looks more like one of the biggest mistakes in franchise history as he has been nothing, but an injury prone, trouble making and seriously overpaid NBA superstar.

Just recently Arenas frequented the headlines due to his locker room altercation with teammate Javaris Crittenton when the two point guards drew their guns on each other after arguing over a gambling debt. Fortunately, the conflict was resolved before and gunfire started, like it would anyway, but the damage was already done as both players were ultimately charged and subsequently suspended for the rest of the NBA season.

Now that Gilbert Arenas has nothing to do, but think about how he put his NBA future and huge contract in jeopardy, the former All-Star point guard has decided to start fresh with a new number by changing his jersey number from number zero to number six.

Ironically enough, the Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James also decided to make the change to number six only a few weeks ago as a tribute to hall of fame shooting guard and arguably the best player ever to play the game in Michael Jordan. The reason for the change was because King James believes that the number 23 should be permanently retired in honor of the six-time NBA champion.

Tags: basketball, NBA, sports betting
Posted in NBA, Online Sportsbooks, Sports

Top NBA free agents available right now

March 3rd, 2010

Michael Finely (former team San Antonio Spurs): Of all the NBA free agents available in the second half of the regular season, the San Antonio Spurs recently released veteran guard Michael Finley is arguably most desirable of the lot as he could definitely help out a title contending team or a playoff team looking to fill the roster before playoff time. The one team that seems to be interested in Finley already is the Boston Celtics who always seem to be on the lookout for aging veterans who can help him off the bench like they did with veteran point guard Stephon Marbury last year.

Kenny Thomas (former team Sacramento Kings)

Over the years forward Kenny Thomas has been one of those players that always gives you a solid performance never get much recognition as he has one of the PJ Brown or Kurt Thomas type big men that aren’t flashy, but put up solid numbers.

After being released from the Sacramento Kings, Kenny Thomas is need him second half of the season.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas (former teams Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards)

Cleveland Cavaliers pulled off perhaps the biggest trade or the most beneficial trade before the NBA trade deadline on February 18 by sending center Zydrunas Ilgauskas to the Washington Wizards in exchange for versatile forward Antawn Jamison.

The trade raised a lot of eyebrows as it was ready obvious that the wizards would just buy out Big  Z’s $11.5 million dollar expiring contract and waive him, 30 days later, the Cavs will be able to sign him once again as they try it on an NBA title at season’s end.

So even though Big Z has gotten interest from teams like the Dallas Mavericks and couple of other teams, he will ultimately end up back in Cleveland.

Larry Hughes (former teams New York Knicks, Sacramento Kings)

in part as a Tracy McGrady trade which sent him to the New York Knicks, veteran point guard Larry Hughes was sent to the Sacramento Kings, but was ultimately bought out and waived.

Unfortunately, Hughes has an injury that will keep him out some time and stopped other teams from pursuing him, but as the season progresses I won’t be surprised to see him land somewhere.

Wally Szczerbiak (former team Cleveland Cavaliers)

This list seems to be filled with four Cleveland Cavaliers players and here’s one more in sharp shooting Wally Szczerbiak who is basically retired, but would consider coming back if it is where the Cavs.

Tags: basketball, NBA, sports betting
Posted in NBA, Online Sportsbooks, Sports

Boston Celtics barely get by the Kobe less defending champion Los Angeles Lakers

February 20th, 2010

All season long the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers have had injury problems to some of their best players like Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and most notably Kobe Bryant, but despite being banged up throughout the season, the Lakers have been arguably the best all around team in the league and have a legitimate shot of repeating as NBA champs at season’s end. At the beginning of the NBA regular season, the Lakers had to play without Pau Gasol who had a nagging hamstring injury that kept him out the first 11 games of the season. Fortunately, the Lakers were able to go 8-3 in that 11 game span without Pau Gasol in the paint, but a big reason for the Lakers success in that time frame was due to Kobe Bryant altering his game by becoming more of a low post presence.

Even though Kobe had some great success in Pau’s absence, the more physical game took its toll on the reigning NBA Finals MVP as he started to accumulate a series of injuries like a broken finger, back spasms and most recently a sprained ankle.

Once Pau Gasol got back on the floor it was business as usual for the defending champs as they got out to 38-13 record with Kobe in the lineup, but the injuries became too much for the Lakers superstar and he had to take some much needed time off to heal from his ailing injuries.

Even though a broken finger sounds like something you just can’t play through, it didn’t seem all that difficult for Kobe to adjust to, but after spraining his ankle against the Denver Nuggets a few weeks back, he had to end his 235 consecutive games played by sitting out against the Portland Trailblazers. With Boston facing Denver on Sunday, check out the latest NBA odds at the best USA online sportsbooks.

Fortunately, the Lakers really stepped it up in Kobe’s absence and were able to win four straight games against the Portland Trailblazers (at the Rose Garden), San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz (in Utah) and the Golden State Warriors. The first three wins were impressive and the fourth was to be expected against the lowly Warriors, but the true test came on Thursday night against the Boston Celtics.

Coming into this game there were reports that Kobe would be ready to go, but as it got closer and closer to game time, Kobe was listed as doubtful and eventually out of this game against their arch rivals.

All game long against the Celtics the Lakers were hanging with the Atlantic division leaders, but when it came down to crutch time, Kobe time, in the fourth quarter and the Lakers looked confused on the last play of the game with 2.2 seconds remaining down by one point 87-86.

On the inbounds play, the basketball ended up in Derek Fisher’s hands, but he was only able to jack up an awkward shot that didn’t even hit iron and the Lakers lost their first of five games without Kobe Bryant. for the fastest and easiest way to make a wager on the NBA, check out the best American Express sportsbooks.

Tags: NBA, sports betting
Posted in NBA, Sports

NBA Eastern Conference teams looking to make a trade before the deadline

February 18th, 2010

The Western Conference had the first team to draw blood in the trade sweepstakes as we get closer and closer to the NBA trade deadline on February 18^th. The Dallas Mavericks made the deal with the Washington Wizards to bring Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood to Texas while sending Josh Howard and Drew Gooden to the nation’s capital, but this trade looks like it was just the beginning of a very active trading session which will most likely be dominated by teams in the Eastern Conference. These trades may have a big impact on the upcoming USA online sportsbooks action.

Miami Heat

With a win on Tuesday night over the Philadelphia 76ers, the Miami Heat were finally able to get back to .500, but they are nowhere near satisfied as they seem to have their sights set on upgrading their roster with the likes of Amare Stoudemire.

The Heat will have some stiff competition with the trade deadline looming as the Cleveland Cavaliers also their sights set on Stoudemire, but Dwyane Wade’s squad might have the advantage with Jermaine O’Neal’s expiring contract and youngster Michael Beasley.

Trade bait: Jermaine O’Neal, Michael Beasley

Cleveland Cavaliers

This season the Cleveland Cavaliers are in somewhat of a desperation mode as they try and do everything they can to convince LeBron James to stay in Cleveland for as long as possible. The only way they can see LeBron staying with the Cavs is if they can surround him with some better talent, namely Amare Stoudemire.

Along with wanting to bring in Stoudemire, the Cavs are also interested in Troy Murphy, Antawn Jamison, Corey Maggette and Andre Igoudala as a backup plan.

Trade bait: J.J. Hickson, Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics have been pretty banged up this season with injuries to everyone of the big three (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce), but despite their injury problems they have played well this season and still have a legitimate shot of contending for a title in the Eastern Conference. Check out the latest NBA odds at the worlds best online sportsbooks.

Even though the Celtics are still looking good right now, they can’t avoid the trade rumors involving Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Ray Allen.

It is unlikely that Boston will make a deal, but if they do, it will almost certainly one or both of these players.

Trade bait: Ray Allen, Glen “Big Baby” Davis

Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls have had their fair share of problems this season and haven’t really been the promising young team we all saw take the Boston Celtics to the limit in the first round of the playoffs last season.

With that being said and the Bulls have been considering making a trade before the trade deadline in an effort to make a late push for the playoffs in the second half of the season and possibly clear some cap space of the upcoming free agent market this summer.

If the Bulls do make a deal, it will most likely include Tyrus Thomas as the center piece.

Trade bait: Tyrus Thomas, Kirk Hinrich, John Salmons, Brad Miller

Other teams in the East in trade market: Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers

Tags: NBA, sports betting
Posted in NBA, Sports

New Comers to the 2010 US National Basketball Team

February 10th, 2010

Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder- No player on the new comer is more important or impactful than Kevin Durant who will almost certainly make the national team that much better!

Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder- Westbrook has really started to come into his own this season and as a result was picked to play for the US.

Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls- The Bulls may still be struggling, but Rose just keeps getting better and he will definitely improve the US backcourt.

Al Jefferson, Minnesota Timberwolves- Jefferson has been struck with injuries, but he was apparently good enough to make the cut.

Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves- Love is a surprise in my opinion, but he is a promising young player.

Rudy Gay, Memphis Grizzlies- Gay is a dynamic player who will only get better over time!

OJ Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies- Along with his teammate, Mayo is a good pick for this team.

Lamar Odom, Los Angeles Lakers- It is about time Odom got some love and this pick has to make him feel vindicated.

Andre Igoudala, Philadelphia 76ers- Another strange pick in my opinion, but the other AI is a good player nonetheless.

Kendrick Perkins, Boston Celtics- Perkins is a banger in the paint and will be a good player to help the frontcourt.

Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers- Granger came on strong last season and has struggled a bit this year, but apparently he is good enough to be on this list.

David Lee, New York Knicks- Lee is arguably one of the best big men in the NBA and he is the second best pick on this list next to Durant.

Brook Lopez, New Jersey Nets- Lopez is a great player on a very bad team and I am glad the powers that be have rewarded him for his efforts.

LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trailblazers- The Blazers wouldn’t be a playoff team if it weren’t for Aldridge.

Gerald Wallace, Charlotte Bobcats- Every single season Wallace seems to get better and this season the Bobcats are reaping the benefits and so will the US squad.

Eric Gordon, Los Angeles Clippers- Another iffy pick. Gordon is a good young player, but not good to be on this team in my opinion.

Players that Declined

Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics- It is a shame Rondo didn’t want to accept the invite as he would have been a huge addition to the backcourt.

Andrew Bynum, Los Angeles Lakers- Bynum declining the invite makes sense as he has struggled with injuries over the years and doesn’t want to jeopardize his NBA career.

Tags: basketball, NBA, Olympics, sports betting
Posted in NBA, Online Sportsbooks, Sports

Darren Collison stepping it up in Chris Paul’s absence

February 5th, 2010

This NBA season has been a rough one for the New Orleans Hornets as they have had an up and down year so far in the first half of the season. With 11 losses in the first 18 games of the season, the New Orleans Hornets looked like a promising young team that was going down the tubes. As a result of their very disappointing start to the year, the Hornets fired former head coach of the year in Byron Scott. The firing sent shock waves throughout the league as no one saw it coming despite the horrible start to the season.

Even though the firing of Scott seemed very premature, the Hornets were able to turn it around at the beginning of the post-Scott era in New Orleans.

The Hornets were able to get back on track without Byron Scott pacing the sideline, but then they received some more bad news as Chris Paul went down with an ankle injury which would keep him out seven games. Despite Paul being inactive with this ankle injury, the Hornets played better than expected with four wins in those seven games without their superstar point guard Chris Paul.

Considerable time has passed since Paul went down with that ankle injury that kept him out seven games earlier in the season, but now the New Orleans Hornets have a 26-23 record in arguably the most competitive division in the NBA in the Southwest where they have to compete with the likes of the Dallas Mavericks (31-18), San Antonio Spurs (28-19), Houston Rockets (26-22) and the Memphis Grizzlies (26-22).

The Hornets may be in last place in the Southwest division, but only five games divide the last place Hornets with the first place Mavericks which means anything can happen from now to the end of the season.

Even though the New Orleans Hornets aren’t out of the running in the division just yet, they suffered a major blow recently when they found out that Chris Paul would miss one to two months after finding out he had to undergo knee surgery.

Now the point guard position will be put in the hands of rookie Darren Collison out of UCLA.

At first, many people, including former head coach Byron Scott believed that the rookie wouldn’t be able to handle taking over for arguably the best point guard in the league, but after just a few games of filling in for the All-Star, Collison has looked much better than anyone expected with 41 assists in three games as the starter.

Tags: NBA, sports betting
Posted in NBA, Sports

Is Devin Harris Going to the Los Angeles Lakers?

January 22nd, 2010

No matter what happens in the NBA season, no matter how good an NBA team may appear, teams are always shopping and looking to upgrade their squads in any which way they can.

This season the Los Angeles Lakers are coming off their first NBA title in seven years as Kobe Bryant and company were finally able to get back on top with an impressive run in the Western Conference playoffs and the domination of Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals.

Coming into this season the Lakers wanted to keep their championship team relatively still intact, but they had to sign both Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza to do just that. Even though Odom hinted to his intentions to play for the Miami Heat for a second time, Lamar was able to strike up a deal with the defending champs and remain with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Defensive specialist Trevor Ariza on the other hand, who really turned into a prime time player last season with the Los Angeles, didn’t resign with the Lakers as he was one of the most desirable free agents in the offseason. With Ariza signing a free agent contract with the Houston Rockets in the offseason, the Lakers took a huge blow to their defense, but were fortunate enough to sign Ron Artest instead and haven’t looked back since.

With Artest leading the defense, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol controlling the offense and Andrew Bynum patrolling the paint, the Los Angeles Lakers have the best record in the NBA at 32-9 and are arguably the best team in the league once again.

Despite being arguably the best team in the NBA right now, the Lakers seem to be seeking a trade to get rid of some of their baggage and save some money for the upcoming free agent market in the summer.

The first trade rumor that has been floating around involving the Los Angeles Lakers was the Toronto Raptors sending superstar Chris Bosh to Los Angeles in exchange for youngster Andrew Bynum. This deal still may go down, but no indication this is a done deal has emerged as of yet.

Another trade rumor that has just surfaced involving the defending NBA champion Lakers is a trade with the New Jersey Nets bringing point guard Devin Harris to Los Angeles. It is uncertain who the Lakers would give up in return, but the Nets are definitely going to clear house before the NBA trade deadline and apparently the Lakers are interested in the young point guard.

Tags: basketball, NBA, sports betting
Posted in NBA, Online Sportsbooks, Sports

Are the Lakers going after Chris Bosh?

January 18th, 2010

The defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers came into this NBA season with high hopes of repeating as NBA champs as they were able to keep their championship team for last season relatively intact with their only real loss being Trevor Ariza signing with the Houston Rockets.

Fortunately, the loss of Ariza hasn’t really been felt this season due to the signing of defensive specialist Ron Artest who has brought a much needed toughness to the Los Angeles Lakers this season in their title defense.

Even though the Lakers have the best record in the NBA at 30-9, they have struggled with some nagging injuries to three of their best players on the team with Pau Gasol’s hamstring, Ron Artest’s concussion and Kobe Bryant’s broken finger and back spasms.

Despite all their injury problems, the Los Angeles Lakers are still arguably the best team in the league right now as we near the mid season mark in the NBA.

With the best record in the NBA and a team that looks better than ever when healthy, you would figure they would be content with their squad, but apparently that isn’t the case as the Lakers could be shopping their most promising young player in center Andrew Bynum.

One position in the NBA that is the hardest to fill with a superstar caliber player these days is the center position as more and more players and teams seem to be leaning towards running their team through the guard position. Back in the day, when a team has a dominant center, that team is a perennial super power in the NBA.

The Boston Celtics had it back in the day with Bill Russell and have it now with Kevin Garnett in the paint. The Houston Rockets had it with Hakeem Olajuwon and the Dream Shake. The San Antonio Spurs have had it with the Twin Towers in Tim Duncan and David Robinson. The Los Angeles Lakers have had a dominant center multiple times from George Mikan to Kareem Abdul-Jabaar to Shaquille O’Neal to Andrew Bynum.

Needless to say, all these teams with dominant big men have all won one or more NBA titles.

It remains to be seen whether or not Andrew Bynum will be one of the dominant centers, but it would be hard to argue that he couldn’t end up being one of the best centers in the league.

Despite all that being said, the Lakers have been rumored to be talking with the Toronto Raptors about a trade that would bring forward Chris Bosh to Los Angeles in exchange for Andrew Bynum.

Tags: NBA, sports betting
Posted in NBA, Sports

Blake Griffin and Michael Redd done for the season

January 18th, 2010

Injuries are part of the game in professional and collegiate sports and although basketball isn’t as much of a contact sport as say football or even soccer at times, there are still plenty of injuries throughout the NBA season that end up putting playing on the sidelines for the duration of the season.

This season there have already been three big names players to go down for the entire season, two of which in the last week and one recurring injury that has limited the progression of a promising young center in the Portland Trailblazers Greg Oden.

Last two seasons the Blazers have had somewhat of a draft bust in former number one overall pick in Greg Oden out of Ohio State as he missed his entire rookie with a knee injury and then came back last season which resulted in the same outcome of sitting on the bench with yet another season ending injury.

This season the trend continues with Oden as he has gone down for the third time and will most likely sit out the rest of the season.

Along with Oden, the Milwaukee Bucks sharp shooter Michael Redd and this season’s number one overall draft pick in Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin will both miss the rest of the season due to knee injuries of their own that will require surgery.

Just like Greg Oden, the Bucks Michael Redd also went down for the season last year with a knee injury and will almost certainly be finished as member of the Milwaukee Bucks as they have been talking about trading the shooting guard for the last two seasons.

The Los Angeles Clippers on the other hand have struggled to find a player through the draft that would be the final piece to the puzzle in their attempt to become a playoff team in the Western Conference once again. Coming into the draft the Clippers had the number one overall pick and had their sights set on the Oklahoma Sooners superstar forward in Blake Griffin and no one could argue with their decision.

Unfortunately, in the preseason, Griffin suffered a broken left kneecap that has kept him out of every regular season game so far. Most people believed he would rebound quick from the injury, but like Oden a couple of seasons ago, Griffin will miss his entire rookie season as his knee will require season ending surgery.

Posted in NBA, Online Sportsbooks, Sports