Tag Archives: NBA

Have the Pacers Finally Found Their Starting Five?

The Indiana Pacers have won four-straight games after defeating their former head coach at Orlando 98-88. They are now 26-22 and sit as the sixth-best team in the Eastern Conference.

The Pacers started out the year with a starting five of Paul George, Myles Turner, Jeff Teague, Thaddeus Young and Monta Ellis. The lineup didn’t change much the first two months, but Ellis went down with an injury. Glenn Robinson III took over his spot in the starting rotation and flourished in that role.

The Pacers eventually went on a losing skid with Robinson in the starting five, so Indiana turned to C.J. Miles. He has done well in the past when leaned on to start games. He has done the job during their winning streak.

Do the Pacers finally have a starting lineup set in stone going forward?

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Have NBA Referees Been Unfair to the Pacers?

Indiana Pacers star Paul George is getting frustrated and feels his team is being treated unfairly like a little brother by the referees. His comments came after a tough 90-85 loss to the Chicago Bulls.

George only made one trip to the free throw line the entire game. He only averages 4.3 free throw attempts per game, which is pretty low for a star player.

In regards to the Pacers not getting calls, he said, “Ever since I’ve been playing, ever since I’ve been in this jersey we’ve fought this battle. Maybe the league has teams they like so they can give them the benefit of the doubt. We’re the little brother of the league. We’re definitely the little brother of the league.”

Does George have a case or is he just mad the Pacers have lost three-straight games?

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‘2016-17 NBA Rookie of the Year’ Betting Odds

This year’s field for Rookie of the Year is wide-open in the NBA after #1 overall pick Ben Simmons suffered a season-threatening foot injury this preseason.

In order to be a true Rookie of the Year candidate, you need to be able to accumulate the kind of ‘sexy’ stats like points and rebounds. It also helps if your team improves by double-digit wins.

I don’t think defense-first players can truly win a rookie award, since voters are mostly just looking at the ‘back of the basketball card’ stats.

Will one of the Philadelphia Sixers win the Rookie of the Year award with Ben Simmons due to miss an extended amount of time?

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NBA: Season Wins Over/Under – Western Conference

The NBA regular season kicks off at the end of the month…and I can’t wait.

The offseason seemed to be gone in a blink of an eye. A ton of money was thrown around and some players are a few pounds of cash heavier.

NBA owners will want another ‘amnesty clause’ in the next CBA to bail themselves out from some of these deals. There are some guys who should have been wearing ski masks when signing their new deals.

The Golden State Warriors won the Western Conference last season and are early favorites to repeat this season. Any sleepers out there worth a bet?

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NBA: Season Wins Over/Under – Eastern Conference

The NBA preseason just kicked off and the regular season is not too far away.

If I had to describe the NBA offseason with one word, the word would be MONEY.

It goes without saying that a lot of bad contracts were signed. A ton of money exchanged hands after the salary cap shot up to $94.143 million, an increase of roughly $24 million. I have a feeling NBA owners will want another ‘amnesty clause’ in the next CBA to bail themselves out from some of these deals.

The Cleveland Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference last season and are early favorites to repeat this season. Any sleepers out there worth a bet?

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Updated NBA Title and Conference Championship Odds

NBA training camps opened this week and the betting lines have bounced around since they were released soon after the start of the NBA Free Agency period.

It’s no surprise that the Golden State Warriors are the favorites headed into this season after signing megastar Kevin Durant. The defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers aren’t far behind, but then there is a huge gap between those teams and the rest of the field.

There isn’t much juice left on the bone if you feel that either Golden State or Cleveland will win the NBA title. There is place where you can still find some bets with some juice, the division battles.

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The Ten Worst NBA Contracts Signed this Offseason (So Far)

We knew this NBA offseason would have a lot of buzz since many top players would hit free agency on July 1st and the fact that the salary cap will hit a historic high of $94.143 million for the 2016-17 season.

Even though we expected a lot of money to be thrown around, it just didn’t really sink in until we saw the quality of players getting such huge contracts.

This list isn’t an indictment on the players getting literally a ton of cash, but an indictment on the owners spending frivolously. I guarantee their actions during the first few days of the 2016 NBA offseason will make them cry poor when this labor agreement expires. I have a feeling they may need another amnesty clause if spending continues this recklessly.

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The ‘Way Too Early’ 2017 NBA Championship Betting Odds

The confetti is still clogging the drains in the streets of Cleveland, but that doesn’t stop Vegas from releasing championship betting odds for 2016-17 NBA season.

The NBA Draft just occurred and and the NBA Free Agency period hasn’t even started yet, but here we are talking about next year. A lot of players have already opted out of their contracts hoping to land more guaranteed money and others are being desperately shopped by their current teams.

Teams like the Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic and the New York Knicks have certainly helped their odds thanks to some deals they made last week.

Are the Cleveland Cavaliers early favorites to repeat?

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Sweetbob’s 2016 NBA Mock Draft

The NBA Draft starts later today and we wanted to wait until the the NBA Finals were over before we posted our mock draft. We then realized that a lot of trades may happen early in the week since we know teams like the Knicks were looking to trade into the draft…so here we are, the day of, posting our 2016 NBA Mock Draft.

A lot can (and will) happen to shuffle the draft tonight. Teams will trade up and down, especially if a prospect falls farther than expected.

I’m smart enough to know that my mock draft will not be 100% correct. Mock drafts are more about gauging where players should go if nothing changes from now until the draft…but chaos is expected. I feel like I have a good feel for the pool of draft-eligible players. I can give insight on who teams ‘should’ pick or possibly reasons why they shouldn’t choose someone.

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Pacers Acquire Jeff Teague in Three-Team Deal

With the NBA Draft taking place on Thursday, NBA teams are trying to fill holes right before the draft.

The Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks and Utah Jazz got together on a deal on Wednesday that sent Atlanta point guard Jeff Teague to the Pacers, Indiana point guard George Hill to the Jazz and the Hawks would receive Utah’s #12 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

The Pacers have been rumored to be interested in Teague for quite some time. They needed a third team’s involvement since a straight point guard for point guard swap wouldn’t work due to Atlanta’s possible salary cap issues and the fact that Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder has played well enough to now start at point guard for the Hawks.

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Ozzie Silna, a Famed ABA Owner Dies at 83

If you are one of the several people caught up in your own world of online NBA sportsbook odds, you might have missed the news coming out of the game regarding the death of Ozzie Silna.

As co-owner of the Spirits of St. Louis, a struggling American Basketball Asociation team, the multimillionaire and his brother, Dan, agreed to dissolve the team at a time when the ABA was merging with the NBA (this was after the 1975-1976 season).

They agreed to the deal in exchange for a percentage of the broadcast revenue the NBA would earn in the future.

Silna was 83 years old when he died. According to his family, he died on Tuesday in Los Angeles, losing his fight with cancer.

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Kawhi Leonard Named the Top Defensive Player In the NBA

The San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard won the 2015-16 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. The forward is the first non-center to win this award in consecutive seasons since Dennis Rodman did so in 1990 and 1991. Leonard was critical to helping give the Spurs some of the best odds in online NBA sportsbook reports.

Leonard won with a majority of the first-place votes from 130 writers and broadcasters. He head out the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green and the Miami Heat’s Hassan Whiteside for the award. All three have been important for online NAB sportsbook odds but Leonard’s efforts have especially be more all-around. This comes as he has been strong from an offensive and defensive standpoint alike. His work has proven to be essential to the success of the Spurs in that he has been extremely productive and effective.

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