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NBA: Trades alter NBA Friday Betting Perspective (8:00 PM ET, ESPN)

A rash of trade deadline deals in the NBA has altered the prospects for several teams.

2008-02-22

A rash of trade deadline deals in the NBA has altered the prospects for several teams. Two of those most greatly affected, Cleveland and Phoenix, will host games as part of the Friday night ESPN doubleheader. Both are small favorites.

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The NBA trade deadline has come and gone and this year the frenzy was remarkable, with most every team near the top of there respective conferences making some sort of deal. This places oddsmakers and those wagering on NBA basketball in peculiar situations, trying to sort how this will affect various teams. On ESPN, we can take a look at a couple of teams and what there state of affairs might be.

The Cleveland Cavaliers after listening to there star play LeBron James complain about his team needing an upgrade to compete with Boston and Detroit in the East, made trades that come with no strings attached. In acquiring molasses like players Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West, they upgraded the offense, while hampering the defense against teams with quicker players at the point guard and three-spot. Joe Smith is a slight upgrade of Drew Gooden, while Ben Wallace has played like Father Time is ringing the doorbell, calling for retirement.

The beauty of this trade and like several that were made in baseball-like deadline frenzy, the outcome is really not clear and the logic can certainly be debated. For the Cleveland front office, its all smiles, they did what there superstar requested, if it works everybody’s happy, if it doesn’t, it will be the latest buzzword phrase that will be utilized, “We took a chance to get better, unfortunately it didn’t work. Now all we can do is move on and look towards the future.” Oh the beauty of not taking responsibility in today’s corporate world.

Starting with tonight’s matchup against Washington, LeBron will find out what a great teammate Wally World is. Kevin Garnett, one of the hardest working, nicest people in the NBA, could not stand Szczerbiak, who still believes he has unlimited shooting range and has been passed around the league like an all you can eat plate of battered fish fry on a Friday night.

James will try to straighten out his team’s fortunes at home against wallowing Washington. Cleveland has played a number of very good teams of late near Lake Eric and is 2-4 and 1-5 against the spread. James continues to work hard to improve as a player and his coach knows his worth. “LeBron - what can I say? He’s the MVP. He’s the MVP this year. I don’t care how many games are left or what not,” coach Mike Brown said. “This guy is terrific. He just does everything out on the floor.” This month alone King James is averaging 30.4 points, 9.2 rebounds and 8.6 assists and oh by the way picked up his second All-Star MVP trophy. His team (at least the former one) is 5-1 ATS in last six against the East and has covered four in a row versus the Southeast Division.
Oddsmakers are trying to determine what all these changes mean and will release side and total later today. The Wizards have lost nine of 10 and still hold down the six slot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Antawn Jamison is doing his best to carry the torch for the Wizards, unfortunately without Caron Butler in the lineup; this is a bunch of two-bit magicians. Washington is 3-7 ATS during this rough patch and undoubtedly will be underdog, which spells trouble, since the favorite has taken four straight.

Immediately following, Boston will try to prevent first three game losing streak of the season, in a slightly confused town called Phoenix. The NBA’s former top defensive scoring team has surrendered 119 and 124 points traveling out West and things are not likely to improve in the desert against a team that is tied for lead in points scored. “You’ve just got to learn from it and understand what we’re doing wrong and clean it up,” said Paul Pierce. Kevin Garnett was dramatically better against Golden State then he was the prior evening in Denver and will likely be improved tonight with more playing time. The Celtics are 10-1 ATS in road games after allowing 100 points or more three straight games.

Phoenix backers are left to ponder, is the glass half empty or half full with the addition of Shaquille O’Neal. The Suns didn’t run as much and had fewer spectacular cuts to the basket with Deisel on the floor, yet they scored 124 points. Amare Stoudemire, at a more natural power forward position had more room to roam and was awesome in defeat against the Lakers, yet was exposed further out on the floor as a perimeter defender.

The defense is still a major concern for Phoenix and in the highly competitive West, losing three in a row or four of five, can throw a team like the Suns from tied for first in division, to seventh or eight position in the conference. The Suns are 7-18 ATS off an upset loss as a home favorite over the last three seasons and will take on a hungry Boston club that is 22-8 ATS in road games after one or more consecutive losses.

Sportsbook.com had established the Suns as two point favorites on overnight line and they have been bet down to one point with no end in sight presently to reverse trend. Even with its many veterans, the Celtics are 20-6 ATS on the road when playing their third game in four days. Phoenix will try to counter those trends by being 17-6 ATS off a loss against a division rival.

This bout will start at 10:35 Eastern, with the Suns carrying 29-14 ATS record when the line is +3 to -3 over the last three seasons.

StatFox Power Line – Cleveland by 6, Phoenix by 6

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