NBA Betting: East playoff push wide open
NBA Betting: East playoff push wide open
We know that Cleveland, Boston and Orlando will play on in the postseason as the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference. After that trio, however, the only thing we know is the Washington Wizards are out. With 11 teams bunched within 15 games of each other in the current standings, the road to the playoffs in the East should be interesting to say the least, and tough on cappers to state the obvious.
Talk about parity. Everybody is still in the conversation when it comes to the Eastern Conference playoff race except for the Washington Wizards (15-51, 23-41-2 ATS), who have combined an awful season on the court with an equally draining year at the window.
Allowing the Toronto Raptors (24-43, 24-41-2 ATS) to remain in the mix might be a stretch, although the Raps are only five games behind the eighth-place Milwaukee Bucks (31-38, 36-31-2 ATS), so there’s still time to make a push.
Normally at this juncture of the schedule we start fading teams with nothing left for which to play. Clubs out of the postseason picture start gearing up for next season, shutting down injured players while trying out young guns who didn’t see the floor back in the fall. That’s definitely not the case in this year’s rendition of the Eastern Conference.
There’s eight teams currently vying for the final three spots. That doesn’t account for Toronto or the Atlanta Hawks (39-28, 37-30 ATS) and Miami Heat (36-30, 30-34-2 ATS), with the latter pair all but assured of moving on barring some unforeseen change in circumstances.
The battle is especially heated this season, for two primary reasons on top of every team’s desire to get it done on the hardwood. First off, no one really wants to finish seventh or eighth, because that almost certainly means they’ll face the Cleveland Cavaliers (52-13, 42-23 ATS) or Boston Celtics (50-17, 34-33 ATS). Ask any NBA head coach after their second drink, and they’ll tell you they’d take a series with the Orlando Magic (48-17, 41-23-1 ATS) any day of the week.
Not that anybody would pass up a date with Cleveland or Boston, because at least you’re in the playoffs. It’s a bigger deal than normal because of the current economic conditions affecting every business across the country. There’s pressure from every front office to get into the postseason; with traditional trade-deadline buyers not willing to take on salaries from retooling and/or subpar franchises, teams fighting to make the playoffs really need the boost that comes with hosting at least two postseason games in the spring.
The best bets among the hopefuls are the least likely to get in, although the fact they’ve come this far negates that argument to some extent. This includes the Indiana Pacers (28-40, 36-30-2 ATS), Charlotte Bobcats (28-38, 38-28 ATS) and New York Knicks (28-37, 37-27-1 ATS), all of which have found their groove in recent weeks.
Milwaukee is clinging to the final spot at 31-38 (36-31-2 ATS), and that’s a victory in itself with Michael Redd out for the season and Andrew Bogut on the shelf. Richard Jefferson is playing the basketball of his life, while Ramon Sessions is helping the Bucks cash because he’s getting starters’ minutes.
The New Jersey Nets (28-37, 34-30-1 ATS) have the talent to overtake Milwaukee, and the Chicago Bulls (30-37, 34-32-1 ATS) are still kicking around after yet another roster tweak at the deadline. Anyone left in the race could also pass the Philadelphia 76ers (33-31, 29-33-2 ATS) and Detroit Pistons (33-32, 27-38 ATS), who turned the ship around after Allen Iverson went down three weeks ago.
The irony is AI was brought in to sell tickets in Motown; now he’s the albatross keeping bettors from taking the Pistons at +2000 to win the Eastern Conference outright. Detroit was still a sleeper when Chauncey Billups was running the show, but they’re just a mediocre team playing well before an inevitable first-round exit.
Real futures action is taking place among the three teams with a realistic chance of winning the NBA championship. The public chalk remains with the Celtics, who are priced at numerous venues as an even wager to win the East. There’s more value in Beantown to go back-to-back with the Larry O’Brien Trophy, with the Celts listed between +200 and +300 to go all the way.
Cleveland leads the East in the standings and is fighting with the Los Angeles Lakers for first overall, and is seeing slightly better value than Boston at +115 to +150 to win the conference and +300 to +350 to win the title.
The real payday resides with Orlando, which continues to cash as the most profitable wager in the Association despite the absence of Jameer Nelson. The Magic are available in the range of +400 to win the conference and close to +1000 to win the NBA Finals in June.
We know that Cleveland, Boston and Orlando will play on in the postseason as the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference. After that trio, however, the only thing we know is the Washington Wizards are out. With 11 teams bunched within 15 games of each other in the current standings, the road to the playoffs in the East should be interesting to say the least, and tough on cappers to state the obvious.
Talk about parity. Everybody is still in the conversation when it comes to the Eastern Conference playoff race except for the Washington Wizards (15-51, 23-41-2 ATS), who have combined an awful season on the court with an equally draining year at the window.
Allowing the Toronto Raptors (24-43, 24-41-2 ATS) to remain in the mix might be a stretch, although the Raps are only five games behind the eighth-place Milwaukee Bucks (31-38, 36-31-2 ATS), so there’s still time to make a push.
Normally at this juncture of the schedule we start fading teams with nothing left for which to play. Clubs out of the postseason picture start gearing up for next season, shutting down injured players while trying out young guns who didn’t see the floor back in the fall. That’s definitely not the case in this year’s rendition of the Eastern Conference.
There’s eight teams currently vying for the final three spots. That doesn’t account for Toronto or the Atlanta Hawks (39-28, 37-30 ATS) and Miami Heat (36-30, 30-34-2 ATS), with the latter pair all but assured of moving on barring some unforeseen change in circumstances.
The battle is especially heated this season, for two primary reasons on top of every team’s desire to get it done on the hardwood. First off, no one really wants to finish seventh or eighth, because that almost certainly means they’ll face the Cleveland Cavaliers (52-13, 42-23 ATS) or Boston Celtics (50-17, 34-33 ATS). Ask any NBA head coach after their second drink, and they’ll tell you they’d take a series with the Orlando Magic (48-17, 41-23-1 ATS) any day of the week.
Not that anybody would pass up a date with Cleveland or Boston, because at least you’re in the playoffs. It’s a bigger deal than normal because of the current economic conditions affecting every business across the country. There’s pressure from every front office to get into the postseason; with traditional trade-deadline buyers not willing to take on salaries from retooling and/or subpar franchises, teams fighting to make the playoffs really need the boost that comes with hosting at least two postseason games in the spring.
The best bets among the hopefuls are the least likely to get in, although the fact they’ve come this far negates that argument to some extent. This includes the Indiana Pacers (28-40, 36-30-2 ATS), Charlotte Bobcats (28-38, 38-28 ATS) and New York Knicks (28-37, 37-27-1 ATS), all of which have found their groove in recent weeks.
Milwaukee is clinging to the final spot at 31-38 (36-31-2 ATS), and that’s a victory in itself with Michael Redd out for the season and Andrew Bogut on the shelf. Richard Jefferson is playing the basketball of his life, while Ramon Sessions is helping the Bucks cash because he’s getting starters’ minutes.
The New Jersey Nets (28-37, 34-30-1 ATS) have the talent to overtake Milwaukee, and the Chicago Bulls (30-37, 34-32-1 ATS) are still kicking around after yet another roster tweak at the deadline. Anyone left in the race could also pass the Philadelphia 76ers (33-31, 29-33-2 ATS) and Detroit Pistons (33-32, 27-38 ATS), who turned the ship around after Allen Iverson went down three weeks ago.
The irony is AI was brought in to sell tickets in Motown; now he’s the albatross keeping bettors from taking the Pistons at +2000 to win the Eastern Conference outright. Detroit was still a sleeper when Chauncey Billups was running the show, but they’re just a mediocre team playing well before an inevitable first-round exit.
Real futures action is taking place among the three teams with a realistic chance of winning the NBA championship. The public chalk remains with the Celtics, who are priced at numerous venues as an even wager to win the East. There’s more value in Beantown to go back-to-back with the Larry O’Brien Trophy, with the Celts listed between +200 and +300 to go all the way.
Cleveland leads the East in the standings and is fighting with the Los Angeles Lakers for first overall, and is seeing slightly better value than Boston at +115 to +150 to win the conference and +300 to +350 to win the title.
The real payday resides with Orlando, which continues to cash as the most profitable wager in the Association despite the absence of Jameer Nelson. The Magic are available in the range of +400 to win the conference and close to +1000 to win the NBA Finals in June.