The professional basket ball season in the United States may be one of the most exciting seasons in sports. Like Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association season takes up several months. There are many games and teams have plenty of opportunities to rise and fall through the standings. Then eight teams from each division make the playoffs. The playoffs consists of best of seven series where each game is important, but surprises and upsets can still happen. This makes gambling on the playoffs very exciting. Each game is a sprint, but each series is a marathon. Gamblers have the fun of making per game bets, but can also strategize on who will win in the long run. This year’s NBA season saw many of the expected teams make the playoffs. Teams like The Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, and the San Antonio Spurs have been yearly favorites to make the playoffs. However, this season also saw some unexpected teams like the Chicago Bulls, Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks, and Memphis Grizzlies make their bid. This has made the gambling exciting as all of the teams have shown potential, and there has been the possibility of an upset at every turn.
So far the NBA playoff season has not failed to disappoint. With all the big name teams making the playoffs many thought that they would just run the table and make it a usual suspects semi-finals and finals. However, the upstart teams have been playing well, making no team an automatic bid no matter how many stars or championship banners they have. Evidence of that took shape last week when the Dallas Mavericks eliminated the defending champs, the Los Angeles Lakers. Not only did the sharp shooting Mavericks take out the champs they do so by not allowing them to win any games. Legendary coach Phil Jackson, who has stated he could retire at the end of the year, was ushered out by means of a four games to none sweep. This caught the sports gambling world by surprise. There were some that thought Dallas could upset Los Angeles, but not many, if any, thought they would sweep. The Dallas Mavericks have never won an NBA championship trophy but the rest of the playoff teams and sports gambling nuts have to take them seriously now. They are riding a great wave of momentum. Online sports gambling sites such as SkyBet and Stan ames are offering odds of 15/8 and 9/4 respectively that the Mavericks will bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Other online sports gambling sites such as William Hill Online, Intertops, Paddy Power, and ToteSport are giving 5/2 odds that the Mavericks will take their first title.
The online sports gambling sites aren’t throwing all of their weight into Dallas. There are still the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat to deal with. Both of these teams are loaded with the best players in the league, and both have experience playing at the advanced level and dealing with the pressure of the playoffs. This still could be the year where the safe bet is the good bet, but don’t count out an upset or two. There is where the real gambling money is to be made.
