Kobe Bryant, a Los Angeles Lakers guard since the age of 18, already ranks sixth on the NBA All-Time scoring list and soon will surpass his former teammate Shaquille O’Neal for fifth place on the historic list.

Bryant has plenty of nicknames but the name “The Black Mamba” sticks to him more than another. Bryant is prone to injury but when he is healthy he can take over a game. Injuries may have slowed him down over the years but Bryant is one of the toughest players to ever walk on an NBA court.

Also known as Kobe, and only elite level athletes such as Michael, Shaq and Tiger, are know by only a single name, Bryant is also a proven winner. He has five NBA championship rings and he has been to the NBA Finals several more times. All of Bryant’s NBA titles came with the help of coach Phil Jackson but the Lakers won with Kobe and two different big men.

Shaq helped the Lakers to three titles before Los Angeles became too big for Kobe and Shaq to live happily ever after. Kobe experienced backlash from fans at the time due to the breakup of the best Lakers team since Showtime in the ’80s.

This was also the same period when Kobe was accused of rape in Colorado. He was later cleared but it eventually led to his divorce from his wife Vanessa, who had been married to for ten years.

The big question when it comes to Kobe Bryant is if he can handle the rigors of the NBA for another five to six years. He will need to play five years or more to become the all-time NBA scoring leader. Kobe averages more than 25 points per game over his career and he is on pace to become the NBA’s greatest scorer in a little more than five years.

Bryant doesn’t care about the scoring record as much as he cares about winning more NBA championship rings than Michael Jordan. Winning two more titles will cement Bryant as the greatest NBA player of all time.

There are plenty of opportunities for basketball prop betting on Kobe Bryant so don’t wait too long to check them out in this shortened NBA season.

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LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh look to defend the Miami Heat (5-2) status as the Eastern Conference champions of 2011. This team will not let the dust settle as they quickly look to sign free agents to prepare for the 66-game condensed NBA season.

The New Jersey Nets (75-1) is one of the teams active in the free agent market and are trying to make a deal to land Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic (20-1). A Russian billionaire owns the Nets and the team has plenty of wiggle room left to snag Howard from Orlando.

Should the Nets acquire Howard the Eastern Conference will have an instant front-runner. Amare Stoudamire and Carmelo Anthony form an excellent base to work with for the New York Knicks (30-1) who are also candidates to land Howard in a deal. If Howard joins the Knicks, then they will dominate the Eastern Conference.

Looking to build on their success from last season the Chicago Bulls (13-2) are hopeful that Derrick Rose stays healthy and if he does they will have a golden opportunity to return as the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

Flying under the radar the Boston Celtics (8-1) are growing older and the veterans may have difficulties with a contracted schedule but are capable of playing with the Heat and Bulls.

At (50-1) and (60-1) the Philadephia 76ers and the Atlanta Hawks respectively, will be little more than afterthoughts once the season begins but they will have more of a chance to play in the post season than the teams at 100-1 odds like the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers.

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The Los Angeles Lakers (+195) look to unseat last years NBA champs, the Dallas Mavericks (+425) right after they win another Western Conference title, well they are the favourites anyway. Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum are returning and should give a boost to the Lakers and combine as a better trio than the Heat‘s dream team combo.

The Lakers traded Lamar Odom for a No. 1 draft pick making for one of the oddest trades in NBA history. During the regular season and the post season Odom, the NBA’s best sixth man, will be on a mission every time he faces the Lakers.

Oklahoma City Thunder (+255) is a team that is no longer under the radar. Kevin Durant and his teammates gave the Lakers all they could handle last season but needs just one more player to help him compete for a title.

Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are getting good odds from the sportsbooks for anyone willing to take a chance on the Clippers. Speaking of odds the Los Angeles Clippers (+350) have a chance to steal the Western Conference title away from the Lakers

Next on the list of challengers that could unseat the Mavericks is the Memphis Grizzlies (+1075). During the NBA playoffs last season the Grizzlies showed confidence and have the potential ability to upset teams when the playoffs start.

On their last legs the San Antonio Spurs (+1675) should be on their way to going into rebuilding mode sooner than later. Showing their age in the playoffs last season the Spurs are pretty certain to be trading away their star player Tony Parker in the near future.

The Portland Trailblazers (+2050) had injuries slow them down and take away their chance to make a run for the playoffs. In the Western Conference no other teams have a chance to compete.

The take away… the Lakers should repeat as the Western Conference champions.

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Alright, everybody that knows even the smallest tidbit about NBA basketball knows that Lebron James “took his talents to South Beach” last season, running away from the only NBA home he’d ever known, Cleveland, and flying south for sunny skies, warm beaches, beautiful babes, and for him and Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, lots and lots of Championships… Hopefully.

If you know about LeBron’s move, you surely know about his failure to succeed in the biggest games of his life thus far. He struggled in the Finals against the underdog Dallas Mavericks, and sure enough, the Heat couldn’t hang – they lost in 6 games to Mark Cuban’s franchise, giving Dirk Nowitzki his first NBA title. It was really entertaining and most everybody loved it (aside from Miami fans), sportsbooks went crazy, handicappers who took Dallas looked brilliant, and the NBA had the best ratings for a Championship series since Michael Jordan was winning one of his 6 titles. Now there’s a lockout, there probably won’t be a season, and everybody is angry. But that’s beside the point – I wanted to give some interesting numbers I found while matching up LeBron James’s old team with his new team.

Cleveland was 19-63 overall, 36-44-2 ATS, just 17-23-1 against the spread at home. They ranked 25th in overall offense and 23rd in overall defense. After starting the season 4-4, they went 15-59 down one hell of a long stretch.

Miami was 58-24 overall, but just 40-41-1 ATS. Still 4 games better than Cleveland, but not what Miami basketball-betting junkies were hoping for by any means. They were 8th in offense and 6th in defense, pretty good, but not what was expected. After starting the season 4-1 (ATS and SU), the Heat won just 1 of their next 13 games against the spread. After that they were solid.

Neither team was great, but Lebron’s new team certainly outperformed his old team in just about every possible situation – but was it by as much as you thought?

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The Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls went to overtime Tuesday night but once the game went into the overtime it was all Miami on their home court. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James took over the game once it went to the overtime period and Derrick Rose production was marginalized by James, who was defending the NBA MVP.

NBA Odds have the Bulls as a 3-point favorite and the over/under total at 180.

The Heat are proving they are the better defensive team on the floor in this series and that has been the difference. Wade and James are playing on another level the last three games and now they are just one game away from their goal of reaching the NBA Finals in their first year as a team.

The Bulls received production from three players in the loss. Rose scored 23 and was closely followed by Carlos Boozer and Luol Deng with 20 a piece. Boozer also contributed on the boards with 11 rebounds but Joakim Noah led the team with 14 rebounds.

Game 5 will take place in the United Center as the Bulls could be hosting their last game of the season. Rose and the Bulls looked spent in the overtime against a better conditioned Miami Heat team. It will be interesting if the Bulls can salvage a win in Chicago and then put pressure on the Heat to close the series out.

The Heat will have all the pressure on them for Game 5 and the critics will come out of the woodwork if they fail to finish off the Bulls in five games. The Heat’s odds are not posted after their win over Chicago in Game 4 but they should be a three point favorite heading into Game 5.

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The Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks will play in the 5th game of their best of 7 game series this Tuesday at 8 o’clock Eastern Time. These teams will play in a game that will have a huge effect on how the series will play out. The series is currently tied 2-2.

NBA betting lines odds have the Bulls as an 8.5-point, -480 moneyline favorite, with the over/under total at 181.

The Bulls looked like they were ready to pull away in the series previous to the last game, but the Hawks just won’t go away and they managed an impressive victory in their last game.

Before the series it was said that Joe Johnson would have to have a good series if the Hawks were going to win it. The good news for the Hawks is that he has looked great in a couple of his games. While he has struggled in a couple of his games, he has really come through with some solid performances in the 2 wins for the Hawks.

One of the keys for the Johnson in the playoffs has been his 3 point shooting. He shot just 30 percent from behind the arc during the regular season, but he has been shooting nearly 49 percent since the postseason’s start. If he can continue to shoot at that clip the Bulls may be in trouble in this series.

The Bulls are still waiting for some consistency out of Carlos Boozer. He was a force offensively and on the boards during the season for the Bulls, but he hasn’t shown up for the playoffs. He has only scored his regular season average one time during this season and has only had at least 10 rebounds once during the series. The Bulls need more from Boozer. In online basketball picks, the Chicago Bulls are favorites to win this match.

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The Dallas Mavericks will prepare to play the second game of their series against the Los Angeles Lakers this Wednesday. Game 2 will be held in Los Angeles.

NBA Betting has the Lakers as 7-point favorites.

Game 1 was very much a thriller as the game went down to the line before Dallas was able to take home the victory. While the game was close at the end, it actually wasn’t very close for a good part of the 2nd half. The Lakers had a dominating run in the 3rd quarter and it looked like they were putting the Mavericks away.

The Mavericks held strong and managed to claw their way back into the game. They finally took the lead in the last minute as there was a controversial foul called on Gasol while he was guarding Nowitzki. Nowtizki hit his free throws to take the lead.

On the other end of the court there was another controversial play as Kobe Bryant appeared to be fouled by Jason Kidd, causing him to fall and lose the ball. There was no call on the play and the Mavericks forced a turnover.

While there were some questionable calls at the end, the Lakers can’t complain too much after squandering an enormous lead in the 3rd quarter. The Lakers definitely showed that they can play superior basketball to the Mavericks when they are playing their game, but they also showed a susceptibility to slack off and allow Dallas back into the game. Game 2 will be a must-win situation for the Los Angeles Lakers. In online free picks, the Los Angeles Lakers are favorites to win this match.

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The San Antonio Spurs will play against the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA Playoffs on Friday (9 pm ET, ESPN).

These teams will be playing Game 6 of a best-of-seven series, and to this point this series has been the most exciting series of the NBA Playoffs. The Grizzlies are currently up 3-2 in the series and have a chance to close it out at home.

NBA Odds have the Grizzlies as a 3-point, -150 moneyline favorite and the over/under total at 189.5.

It looked like the Grizzlies would close out the series in their last game. There were just a few seconds left and the Grizzlies led by 3 points. Manu Ginobli hit a clutch shot to narrow the lead to 1 point, but the Grizzlies hit 2 free throws to reestablish their 3 point lead. The Spurs responded as Gary Neal got the ball with under 2 seconds remaining. He launched up a 3 point shot and connected to send the game to overtime.

During the overtime period the Spurs collected themselves and ended up winning by 7 points in the extra period.

With that amazing comeback the Spurs should have a lot of confidence and momentum going into game 6. While this is the case, they will still be playing on the road and they’ll need to win 2 games in a row. This will be a difficult comeback, even for a team like the Spurs. It is very rare for a team to come back from a 3 games to 1 deficit.

The game will take place on Friday night and it is scheduled to start at 9 pm Eastern time.

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The Chicago Bulls will take on the Indiana Pacers in the 3rd game of their best of 7 series in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Basketball picks has the Bulls as a -200 favorite and the over/under total at 189.

The Bulls have taken the early lead in this series as they have been able to lock down both of their games that they’ve played at home. The Bulls were a tremendous home team all season and it was no surprise that they’d win their home games. The real test will come in game 3 when they will go to Indiana and try to win games on the road.

The Pacers have been solid, but the Bulls are clearly the better team in this series. The Pacers will need Collison to step up and play like an all-star if they hope to win their home games. Collison is a quick point guard that could do some damage against the Bulls. If he has a solid game, Derrick Rose will be forced to chase him around and it could affect the offense of the MVP candidate.

The Bulls have relied on Rose for a lot of offense this season and that trend has continued in the playoffs. He has carried the squad and will likely continue to carry the majority of the load offensively.

The Bulls have a chance to go up 3 games to 0 in the series and they should try to put this away as early as they can. The playoffs are long and a rest early on in the playoffs can be a big benefit. In online sportsbook, the Chicago Bulls are favorites to win this match.

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This Wednesday, the New York Knicks will face the Boston Celtics. This should be an interesting game as of late these teams have had very different stretches.

In NBA Odds, the Knicks are at 20-1 and Boston is at 7-1 to win the NBA title.

Of all season whatever the Celtics have played, right now they are playing some of the worst basketball. They have lost 5 of their last 10 games, and they are 55-25 on the season. It seems that following the loss of Kendrick Perkins, the team has really struggled to respond.

The Knicks have won 7 games in a row and they look like a real contender in the playoffs, even though they looked like they were on their way down a couple of weeks ago. In the Eastern Conference, they have an outside shot of tying the Hawks for the 5th best record and they are now 42-38 on the season.

As these teams are lined up to play each other, this looks like it should be a preview for the first round of the playoffs. As they try to gain a mental edge entering the series, this game will be huge for each team.

Even though the Knicks might be the team best suited to upset one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, the Celtics are clearly the favorites not only for this game but also for the series. They also have a veteran point guard that has had extensive experience in the playoffs over the course of his career and they have two star caliber players that are capable of carrying the team for stretches.

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