Rockets 8/15 on sky bet for the series
Mavericks 9/4 on 888 sport

if anyone likes a freeroll

Small update on the Portland NBA Division bet. Perhaps the biggest game of the season for that bet took place last night with Portland beating their only division contenders Oklahoma City to lock up the tiebreaker and extend their lead to 6 games in the win column with OKC having 23 games left to play and Portland 25.

The reserves for the NBA All Star game were announced on Thursday with the most notable omission being Damian Lillard of the Trailblazers. Before the announcement, he had come out in the media saying he would be disappointed to not be selected as he felt he had done enough to warrant it. Kobe Bryant is currently injured so won't be able to play, and Lillard wasn't even selected (by the NBA commissioner) as his replacement. Lillard has posted on his Instagram reiterating his anger/disappointment and wants to prove everyone wrong.

Click to see full-size image.

So, with all that said I think he will try to do that right away tonight @ Atlanta. I recommend betting Over 21.5 pts 8/11 (paddy power) or Over 22 pts 3/4 (888).

pretty good upgrade for the cavs in a trade where they lose waiters but gain shumpert and JR smith from the knicks, I think it'll help them a lot in the regular season and playoffs.

Terrible trade for the Cavs for me.  How many balls are there on the court at once to feed the ego's already on the team without adding JR Smith to the equation.  Don't see much upside and potentially a lot of negative downside on and off the court if JR can't accept he isn't the prime time scorer he thinks he is.  Shumpert is a big upgrade defensively though and taking JR's bloated contract/ego/inefficient shooting %/off court baggage on board was the price the Cavs had to pay to get him unfortunately.  Big culture shock ahead for JR playing with a real winner in Lebron rather than 'i don't care if we win as long as i get 25 a night' Melo.

In better news Rondo has finally realised he is good at passing again and not scoring after going 1-13 shooting last night but handing out 14 assists.  His first double figure assist game for what seems like months!  The Mavs are looking more and more like the real deal for me.  Very balanced team with few ego issues as everyone knows their role and seems to be doing it effeciently.

Wiggins is a shoe in for rookie of the year barring injury.  I got a lump laid at under 1/3 on bf yday and paddy offer 1/4.  He has scored 20 points + in 5 of the last 6 games and is playing a much bigger role in the team now following the Twolves mid season adjustments.

I disagree, Waiters and JR Smith are pretty much the same guy, but smith probably a bit more useful and arguably will have less ego than Waiters. Shumpert very useful overall, will likely start I'd guess, so think it helps them overall

Mirotic might be someone to watch for in ROY, playing good minutes on a good team, but surely Wiggins will get it.

pretty good upgrade for the cavs in a trade where they lose waiters but gain shumpert and JR smith from the knicks, I think it'll help them a lot in the regular season and playoffs.

A friend of mine says 16s for Dallas Mavericks to win the NBA Champs is a good price(13s on exchange).
He says they're in great form and have just signed one of the best players and that the price will plummet soon with him playing.
San Antonio, the defending champs are favourites on the exchange to win the Championship but are 6.4 to win at Dallas tonight who are 1.17.

Reason why mavs are so short tonight is the Spurs just came of two triple overtime games and will be resting their best players as they have been doing throughout the season. With regard to Mavs for the title, a lot of the sharp analytics NBA writers/bettor think this trade has made the mavs worse for the season having to give up their two best bench players for Rondo, who doesn't fit their offensive system, can't shoot well (even from the free throw line) and hasn't been a great defender for some years. He is an excellent passer of the ball, and more playmaking can always help teams, but the Mavericks bench has been crippled.

Thanks Tighty, what a book that is, Portland, Duke & Wiggins in partricular.

It really is, that Raptors division bet is virtually locked up already too.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:12047629

video about rookie of the year prospects for those interested.

Cliffs: With Jabari Parker out for the season, David Thorpe says it is Andrew Wiggins' award to lose.

It emerged overnight that the Mavericks are trying to secure Rondo from the Celtics in a trade

this article refers http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4704068/the-risks-and-rewards-of-rajon-rondo?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

i assume this might be good news for Rondo and good news for our bet on the Mavericks?

It's tough to say really. With the Celtics Rondo has the ball in his hands all the time that he's on the court allowing him to get a tonne of assists, but I think with Dallas that wouldn't be the case, having Ellis and even Parsons handle the ball a fair amount. Having said that, the Mavericks score the most points in the NBA so, depending how they want Rondo to play, could be more assist chances. In terms of how it would help the Mavericks overall, I'm sure it would be a good upgrade from their poor backcourt, and it seems the Celtics are primarily looking for draft picks and maybe Brandon Wright (probably the most efficient reserve out there) which would be a shame to lose, and a replacement guard I'd guess, likely Nelson.

Warriors @ Mavericks tonight at 7pm UK time on ESPN if anyone is interested in watching a really good matchup of two of the better teams in the NBA, should be a high scoring affair.

Raptors @ Cavs.
Kyle Lowry To Score 22 Or More Points and the Toronto Raptors To Win  6/1 on WH.

Although Cavs have been playing well recently, this better seems very good value to me. Even without Derozan Raptors are doing well and Lowry has been picking up the scoring slack in his absence. I also imagine he'll be guarded by his opposite number Kyrie Irving tonight who is a very poor defender. Since Derozan's injury, Lowry has scored 29, 27, 39, 22 and 13 pts in their five games.
While it is likely that Raptors lose being 6 point underdogs, 6/1 for this bet seems very good to me.

The line today for Geno Smith passing yards is 160.5 lol, don't think I'll be betting the under on that one :/

Rams -2.5 @ Redskins 10/11 on sky.

The Rams have been playing well recently, beating the broncos, narrowly losing to the chargers (which they could have easily won but for turning it over on the chargers goal line at the very end), crushing the raiders a couple of days ago, although that shouldn't be a measure of how well a team is playing. While the Redskins are on a run of defeats, and had five players injured during their loss to the Colts on Sunday, their availability for the Rams game is unknown at the moment I believe, but Desean Jackson seems to be out.

Anybody have thoughts on this one?

I like the Rams. Only a Quarterback and a receiver away from being a very good team imo. Defense is very good already. Redskins with McCoy are a bit less boom and bust but i think the Rams are better, and further along the process of recovering from the doldrums   


i had an eye on the following

Bears +3.5 on Thursday. Don't see the Cowboys matching up with Jeffrey, Marshall, Frte etc at all well. Hate the Bears defense but the Cowbvoys might have to score 30+ to win this

Bills +10 at Denver. Denver have been relying on run game and the D. like the Bills front 7/run defense to make this far closer than a ten point game

I like those two you suggested too, not sure of how much you usually tend to put on nfl spreads, but how about £22 on each of those three as a suggestion?
Also the headline offer at WH could be value, Forte to score a touchdown and Bears to win 11/4, with Forte getting so much of the ball recently with both rushing and receiving.

Rams -2.5 @ Redskins 10/11 on sky.

The Rams have been playing well recently, beating the broncos, narrowly losing to the chargers (which they could have easily won but for turning it over on the chargers goal line at the very end), crushing the raiders a couple of days ago, although that shouldn't be a measure of how well a team is playing. While the Redskins are on a run of defeats, and had five players injured during their loss to the Colts on Sunday, their availability for the Rams game is unknown at the moment I believe, but Desean Jackson seems to be out.

Anybody have thoughts on this one?

Completed 7 of 13 passes for 65 yards, as the Jets decided December is a good time to carry the mail. Hope you backed yourself, Mr Cadub. Don't listen to us naysayers!

lol yea I did. got lucky they just decided to run the ball all night pretty effectively and didn't fall behind until the very end. If that was the game plan, might as well have kept Vick in, or just had Ivory/Johnson as QB