NBA Betting – Boston Celtics Value

The demise of the Boston Celtics has been written over and over this NBA betting offseason. It seems many are giving the Miami Heat the best basketball odds to reach the NBA finals. Did we miss something here? Aren’t the Celts bringing back, essentially, the same team that was a few points away from winning the title?

Boston has been called aging and finished by the critics for a couple of years now. Still, their veteran stars continue to perform at a high level. NBA odds are starting to skew towards the Heat and all of their new acquisitions. However, basketball bettors at Sports Betting shouldn’t overlook the Celtics.

Boston had a very quiet offseason. They re-signed both Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, two of their key veterans. Boston also managed to replace the retired Rasheed Wallace with Shaquille O’Neal. In Shaq, Boston loses some of the outside shooting ability that Wallace brought, but they now have less of a risk of technical fouls and they upgrade their rebounding ability. Boston was terribly outrebounded versus the Lakers in the final postseason game last year and knew they needed to correct that element.

Meanwhile, point guard Rajon Rondo continues to emerge for the Celtics. Each year, he becomes more critical to the Celtics success and his game becomes more well-rounded. If he can develop a reliable outside jump shot, Boston should be able to match up with anyone in the league, and yes, that includes the Miami Heat.

Right now the Celtics are a 10-1 shot to win the NBA title at the sportsbook. Now is the perfect chance to get in on those favorable future odds. With Miami and the Lakers listed as 6-4 co-favorites to win it all, the respect for Boston has waned considerably. Look for this experienced team to use this as motivation in their quest to get back to the finals and finish what they couldn’t this past June.

NBA Odds: Future Betting “Heats” Up

With a tip of the hat to Dennis Green…”don’t crown their asses just yet”.

We speak of the Miami Heat of course, as fans, commentators and of course, the sports betting public have been weighing in with their thoughts on the 2010-11 NBA Championship since the Lebron decided to “take his talents” to South Beach. Joining him down there is, of course, Chris Bosh and with D-Wade re-signing Miami has become the center of the NBA universe for the time being.

The big question is can they close the deal?

After the big announcement, online sportsbook Sportsbetting.com had the Heat listed as the odds-on favorite to take next season’s NBA title with odds of at +175. Sportsbook manager Brian Taylor said, “not surprisingly, we’ve seen more interest in our NBA Future betting options than any other off-season I can remember. And also not surprisingly, the Miami Heat are seeing lots of the volume, but we are seeing a reasonable amount of money coming in on the Orlando Magic in the East and the LA Lakers”

But until Miami actually wins a fourth game in the 2011 NBA Final, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers are the defending NBA champions.

Though a Lakers and Heat matchup in the next NBA Final is far from certain (despite what will undoubtedly be obsessive meddling by David Stern and co.), LA got an early punch in against Miami.

The Heat were said to be heavily courting Derek Fisher but the guard decided against joining LeBron, Bosh and Wade and opted to re-sign with his old team.

“I have decided to continue with Kobe, continue with our teammates and the fans of Los Angeles. While this may not be the most lucrative contract I’ve been offered this off season, it is the most valuable,” Fisher said on his website.

“I am confident I will continue to lead this team on and off the court. Let the hunt for six begin…”

The team also brought back the Zen Master, head coach Phil Jackson, who has been bench boss for the Lakers’ last five NBA titles.

Besides Fisher, the Lakers probably won’t be adding any big-name talent – the team is four players away from the association’s roster minimum of 13 players.

The Lakers are listed at +300 to repeat as NBA champs at the sportsbooks.

If the Miami Heat do become the power in the Eastern Conference, which team will present the biggest challenge?

The Boston Celtics, who are listed at +1000 to win the 2011 title, have re-signed Paul Pierce and Ray Allen and added Jermaine O’Neal and should pack some punch.

But the intra-state rivals, the Orlando Magic could be the major hurdle for the Heat.
The Magic have re-signed backup shooting guard J.J. Redick and have added point guard Chris Duhon from the New York Knicks and shooting guard Quentin Richardson from the Miami Heat and they already have the likes of Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis and Jameer Nelson.

The Magic are listed at +200 to win the Eastern Conference title and +1600 to take the NBA championship during the 2010/11 campaign.

The Miami Heat have struck gold so far this off-season…but there are several teams who are ready to step up and keep the big prize out of South Beach.

You can check out all the NBA Odds.

We’ll keep an eye on the NBA Championship betting throughout the summer.

Have a great week.

BasketballBet coach confident about good performance in African cup

Basketball coach José Moisés has said in Dundo City, eastern Lunda-Sul Province, that he is convinced about a dignifying participation of the Angolan team in the African Basketball Cup, Afrobasket2009, that is to start on Wednesday in Libya, ANGOP has learnt.


Speaking to ANGOP, the coach said the results achieved by the national team during the pre-competition stage, mainly in the games of the Portuguese speaking countries, guarantee a positive participation in the event.

He said that despite the fact that other teams have the interest in winning the competition, such as Mali, Angola always showed sports capacity in these competitions, therefore there are conditions to get satisfactory results in the games.

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Canada To Play Argentina For Bronze At world U-19 Basketball BettingTournament

Canada will play Argentina for bronze at the world under-19 women's basketball Betting championships after a lopsided 82-51 loss to the United States in Saturday's semifinals.

Kayla Alexander of Milton, Ont., scored 12 points to top the Canadians, who were coming off an upset win over Australia to earn their first appearance in the semifinals.

The two-time defending champion Americans broke the game open early with a 27-0 run, and the Canadians never recovered. Adding to the team's troubles, starting forward Natalie Achonwa of Guelph, Ont., left the game early on with a hip injury.

"I think we just didn't respond to that offensive quality," said Canadian coach Rich Chambers. "We still have a chance for a medal. So we hope we can take this experience to (Sunday)."

Nicole Larke of Calgary hit a three-pointer for the game's first points, but the Americans held Canada (4-4) off the scoreboard for the next 13 minutes to take a 27-3 lead, and led 50-18 at halftime.

The U.S. (7-1) had 19 steals.

Spain defeated Argentina 67-49 in Saturday's other semifinal. Canada will face the Argentines for bronze on Sunday.

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Basketball Odds -Kidd Re-ups With Mavericks

After losing to the Hornets in the first round of the 2008 playoffs, Avery Johnson was fired, and Rick Carlisle was hired as the new head coach for the Dallas Mavericks. After getting off to a rocky start at 2-7, the Mavericks eventually found themselves with the sixth spot in the western conference playoff bracket for 2009. This was after going 50-32 (ninth consecutive 50+-win season) and about three to four weeks earlier, weren't even sure if they were going to make the eighth and final spot. But a run of 5-1 in their last six regular season games got them to a game over the Hornets for sixth place. Dirk Nowitzki also entered the postseason with a streak of twenty-five consecutive games of scoring 20 or more points, which was ended in the first game of the quarterfinals series verses the arch-rival, San Antonio Spurs.

The Mavericks surprised many people by winning Game 1, 105-97 in San Antonio. The Spurs would come back to win Game 2 though, by twenty-one points, as the series shifted to Dallas, as the two teams had both won a game. Dallas, who had only lost one game at home after the All-Star Break, won both Games 3 and 4 at home, by twenty-one and nine points, 88-67, and 99-90. San Antonio was just trying to win Game 5 to extend the series, but they couldn't do it as the Mavericks eventually took over and won by thirteen, 106-93, clinching the series, as they would get out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time since the 2006 playoffs when they advanced all the way to the Finals.

Point guard Jason Kidd has re-signed with the Dallas Mavericks for three-years at over $25 million reports ESPN.

The Mavs are listed at +1800 to win the Western Conference next season.

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Basketball:Kiwis finish on a high

The Junior Tall Blacks ended their under-19 world championships campaign on a high note, seeing off a physical challenge from Angola to claim 13th place at the 16-team event.

The battling victory was a solid finish to a campaign that captain Dion Prewster felt exceeded many people's expectations, but ultimately fell short of matching the team's own hopes.

Having shown they were a match for some of the tournament's big guns, the defeat to Kazakhstan that stopped the Kiwis from progressing beyond first-round pool play still rankles - and probably will do for some time.

"It's safe to say that we have surprised and got the respect of a few other countries," Prewster said.

"At least that shows our hard work hasn't gone to waste. But not making it into the 12 was tough to swallow. It is heartbreaking because we know we can compete with a lot of those teams. But we did it to ourselves.

"This was our first time [at a world championships]. At least we know next time, with the next group of guys coming through, that we can compete. We just have to be mentally tougher and execute at the end."

Coach Kenny McFadden hoped his side had made a strong enough case for FIBA to consider granting a second spot to the region.

Having finished ahead of two of the three Asian nations and proved themselves a cut above the African nations, they've made a strong case.

"If they allow us to do this on a regular basis you will see New Zealand basketball make huge strides."

The impressive Loe, in particular, is sure to have plenty of offers on the table from US college Basketball but there was a more immediate reward for the 2.11m centre and teammates, Brook Ruscoe and Prewster, who have been named in a 20-strong senior Tall Blacks trial squad.

Basketball-Rasheed Wallace To Beantown?

With a number of free agents signing with new teams, it seems as if the Boston Celtics will be adding a talented but volatile forward.

ESPN is reporting that Rasheed Wallace is on the verge of signing with the Celtics, who are currently listed at +600 to take next season’s NBA title.

Basketball||Up next For the Sparks:Sunday vs.Phoenix

Sparks forward Candace Parker will play an undetermined number of minutes off the bench tonight, after last year's most valuable player missed training camp and the first eight games of the season while on maternity leave. Doctors cleared her to fully practice since Tuesday.

"I had circled that date as a return in my head as a goal of mine," Parker said. "It feels good, I'll be able to dress and be back. I had a solid week of practice." The Sparks are 3-0 at home, and have won two of their last three games despite the absence of center Lisa Leslie, who sprained her right knee June 19 against Phoenix and isn't expecting to return until July 22 against Seattle. It remains unclear whether Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, second in the league at 21.2 points a game, will play. The league hasn't ruled on any disciplinary action, and Taurasi, cited for drunk driving Thursday night, declined to say whether she's playing. The Mercury averages a league-leading 90.6 points a game.

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Rutgers women's Basketball Team Booked Again For Jimmy V Classic

The Rutgers women's basketball team will take part in the Jimmy V Women's Basketball Classic for a fourth straight year.


The Scarlet Knights will host Florida on Dec. 7 at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. The game will be televised on ESPN2.

Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said the late Jim Valvano, the former North Carolina State coach for whom the tournament is named, was a dear friend and her team is excited to be chosen to play again.

The event raises money for the V Foundation, which funds cancer research.

College Basketball | Kelvin Sampson's appeal is rejected by NCAA

The NCAA is finished with the latest Kelvin Sampson saga.

The NCAA on Tuesday rejected an appeal from the former Indiana coach, who was given five years of potential penalties for taking part in more than 100 impermissible calls to recruits while coaching the Hoosiers.

The NCAA said its infractions committee upheld the violations found in the case, which prompted an overhaul at the storied program and led to Sampson's departure after 1 ½ seasons. An NCAA spokeswoman said Sampson, 53, has used his only appeal, and the case is closed.

Sampson, an assistant coach for the NBA Milwaukee Bucks, is essentially barred from coaching in college until 2013.

The NCAA ruled Sampson ignored signed compliance agreements with Indiana, ignored the recruiting restrictions he was already under from a similar case at Oklahoma and deliberately lied to infractions-committee members.

In his appeal, Sampson — a former Washington State coach — claimed the penalty was too harsh, the NCAA misinterpreted evidence and that the infractions committee was biased against him.

The NCAA rejected each claim, saying "it found no basis on which to conclude that the findings of violations were contrary to the evidence."

Sampson's publicist, Chris Capo, said Sampson "will not be making any comment on the recent NCAA ruling."

A Bucks spokesman said "Sampson declined comment on the report."

Sampson defended himself in September in a statement made through his former publicist, Matt Kramer.

Serbia Drops Universiade Basketball Tourney

Miroslav Raduljica scored 16 points and added eight rebounds as Serbia defeated Canada 99-73 Monday in the last game leading up to the 2009 Summer Universiade men's basketball event.

Canada finished the four-team tuneup tournament 0-3 after losses to the United States and Russia.

Christian Upshaw led Canada with 14 points while Josh Whyte had 12.

"We knew playing three games in three days against this high calibre was going to be a real mental battle," said Canadian head coach Chris O'Rourke, who returns for his second tour of duty with the Universiade squad.

"We got real frustrated in the first half with the number of times they were going to the foul line. We didn't execute, and when you play a very good team like that they're going to make you pay for it."

The Serbian team used its significant size advantage to dominate the glass on the night, out-rebounding Canada by a 42-19 margin and putting the red and white in early foul trouble.

Serbia scored 29 points in each of the first and third quarters, including a 15-point outburst in the first three minutes following half time. The host side shot a sparkling 32-for-36 from the free-throw line after drawing 18 shooting fouls.

Serbia finished the four-team event with a perfect 3-0 record, with the U.S. following at 2-1. The American squad got past Russia 67-63 in the early game Monday night.

The Canadians begin their quest on Thursday to return to the podium after a bronze medal at the 2007 Universiade in Bangkok, Thailand. Their first game is against Italy.

With two days before their next competition, Canada will recharge and refocus on the tough test facing them in the Universiade tournament.

"We need some time to watch more film and practice and get some physical and mental rest," said O'Rourke. "There's not much time and we have a lot of fine tuning still to do.

"There's no time to dwell, that's for sure. We won't be able to see (Italy) play, so again it becomes about focusing on us and what we have to do."

Following the contest against Italy, Canada will also play China in Group C action at the Universiade tournament. The top two teams from the group phase will move on to the second round.

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Basketball-Sparks Rout Turnover-Happy Storm

Marie Ferdinand-Harris led a balanced offensive attack with 15 points, as the Los Angeles Sparks forced 22 turnovers en route to an 82-55 win over the Seattle Storm.

Betty Lennox scored 10 of her 14 points from the free throw line, while reserves Vanessa Hayden and Noelle Quinn contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively, for LA, which moved to 3-5 on the year.

No player on the Storm scored double digits, with Camille Little and Lauren Jackson chiming in with nine points apiece.

Seattle, now 6-3, shot 34.6 percent in the loss.

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Basketball-Shaq Going To Cleveland?

ESPN reports that the Phoenix Suns are on the verge of dealing center Shaquille O’Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers for power forward Ben Wallace, shooting guard Sasha Pavolic, cash and a draft pick .

The deal is pending league approval and as it stands, the Cleveland Cavaliers are listed at +400 to win next year’s NBA championship while the Phoenix Suns are listed at +5000 to do the same.

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Basketball-Wiggins carries Lynx over Liberty

Candice Wiggins poured in 25 points to power Minnesota to a 69-57 blowout of New York at the Target Center.

Roneeka Hodges added 10 points, while Kelly Miller scored eight for the Lynx, who had lost their previous two games. Minnesota forced 20 Liberty turnovers, leading to 21 points.



Shameka Christon scored 25, going 6-of-10 from three-point range, for the Liberty, who had a two-game win streak snapped. No other New York player had more than six points.

The Liberty trailed just 38-36 with 7 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter, but the Lynx finished the period on a 21-4 run to take control.

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Basketball: Dramatic Finish As Giants Beat Saints

The Nelson Giants are through to the National Basketball League finals after a thrilling last second win over the Wellington Saints in Nelson.

Trailing 82-81 with seconds remaining, Tony Rampton scrambled in a two point shot from a rebound off a free throw to claim an 83-82 win.



The Saints appealed the result after claiming time was up before the final play was made but they have since withdrawn the protest after reviewing footage.

Giants guard Phill Jones says the game was a great advertisement for New Zealand basketball and it was an exciting fightback by his team which showed, yet again, that the game is never over until the buzzer goes .

The Waikato Pistons host the Christchurch Cougars in the second semi final in Te Awamutu tonight.

NBA Basketball-Kobe Looking For Crown

The biggest rap against Kobe Bryant is that he hasn’t been able to win an NBA Betting title without Shaquille O’Neal but it looks like he is about to shed that label.

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic in OT 99-91, covering at +1.5 and gaining a 3-1 series lead.

Basketball Game 5 goes Sunday in Orlando and although the Lakers can capture a title, they are listed as 3-point underdogs and the Total is set at 198.

The Lakers are 15-5 ATS in their last 20 games when listed as underdogs of 4-points or less.

NBA BasketBall Final-Kobe Wins One Without Shaq

Kobe Bryant can finally say he won an NBA championship without Shaquille O’Neal as the Los Angeles Lakers took down the Orlando Magic 99-86 and won the NBA betting finals 4-1.

The Lakers covered as 3.5-point underdogs and Bryant was named MVP.

NBA Betting-2010 NBA Championship Futures

Here are some futures odds for next year’s NBA Betting championship and bookies are favoring a LeBron-Kobe matchup.

The L.A. Lakers are the odds-on from the Western Conference and overall at +250 and the Cleveland Cavaliers are the odds-on from the Eastern Conference at +300.

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NBA Betting -Fantastic Game Four – NBA Finals - Orlando Magic vs Los Angeles Lakers

It will be an important game in the NBA finals as the Orlando Magic can pull even with the Los Angeles Lakers with a win or fall behind 3-1 in the series.

The Magic have been anything but the last 17 times the Lakers have visited going 6-11 ATS–Orlando is a 2-point home fave tonight.

Tonight’s Total is set at 201 and in the Lakers’ last 17 visits, the Over/Under has gone 5-12, including 6-0 in the last six games.

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NBA Finals MVP Props

With the NBA postseason winding down, it is a good time to take a look at NBA Finals MVP propositions.

As it stands, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers is the overwhelming favorite at -600 while the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard is listed at +700.

More options in the 2009 NBA Finals MVP section.

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