NBA Betting: Rolling Celtics can stifle Denver

Basketball / Nick Shiambouros / 14 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

Nick Shiambouros takes his regular look at the weekend's betting action in the NBA.

The unbeaten Los Angeles Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-99 with a powerful display on Tuesday night and followed up on Wednesday by thrashing the New Orleans Hornets, the talented Chris Paul and all, 93-86. The Hornets were 51-30 down at the half and the game was effectively over from that point.

The Lakers look unstoppable at the moment and must be followed until they are beaten. This is by no means a one man team as Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Derek Fisher help balance the scoring for them. Their deep bench ensures Kobe Bryant does not need to score a mountain of points every night.

The league's other unbeaten team, the Atlanta Hawks, just proved too strong for Chicago beating them 118-108 on Tuesday, but the run ended on Wednesday night at the hands of the Boston Celtics 103-102 in a thrilling encounter. As previously reported the Celtics will be very hard to beat at home and I do not envy any team going to Boston.

In-form Denver travel to the Celtics on Friday night in a mouth-watering affair where I just favour the hone team to cover the points with another win. The Nuggets are 3-0 with new signing Chauncey Billups but the Celtics will try and contain him and Carmello Anthony with a half court game and keep the scoring low. As previously reported, every game in Boston is like a play-off game and teams are now intimidated by the crowd and the passion the Celtics show every time they set foot on the floor.

Paul Pierce is the spiritual leader of this team and his game winning jumper with under a second to go against Atlanta on Wednesday proved once again what a champion he is. It also helps to have Kevin Garnett, Ray Allan and Rajon Rondo for good measure.

The Nuggets will have a tough time running the ball at their normal high octane pace and I am going under the advertised points as, if the Celtics manage to set the tone early, it will be difficult for players like Anthony to score and frustration could lead them into taking low percentage shots.

The Hawks host the New Jersey Nets on Saturday and I expect them to rebound after the heartbreaking loss against Boston. Mike Bibby and Joe Johnson are both shooting the ball well and they are a team I may have underestimated. Atlanta are the surprise package of the season and they will have a good year under coach Mike Woodson.

The Nets come in to this game with a doubt about Devin Harris who is resting a badly sprained ankle and have had a very poor start to the season. The Nets were spanked by Indiana 98-87 on Wednesday evening and are a team that is definitely going the wrong way at the moment. As a rule I do not like to take big handicap spreads but I will make an exception in this match up.

Recommended wagers:

Friday, Boston, back with advertised handicap and under total points
Saturday, Atlanta, back with advertised handicap