Posts Tagged ‘Ron Artest’
Another week of NBA betting action is in the books, and Bang the Book takes a look at the hot and the not from the week that was, sponsored by Sportsbook.com! ATS Power Poll ATS Power Outage The Good
1: Atlanta Hawks (31-18 ATS): The Hawks just can’t get over the hump and hop past the Orlando Magic for the lead in the Southeast Division. A brief three-game ATS slide was ended on Friday with a 91-81 win over the Bulls. It was the best defensive effort for Atlanta since December 5th.
2: Utah Jazz (29-17-3 ATS): The Jazz parlayed a stretch of seven games of which six were at home into a 5-1-1 ATS run. Utah has won eight straight basketball betting battles outright, and they’re snapping right at the heels of the Nuggets for the top spot in the Northwest Division.
3: Oklahoma City Thunder (31-19 ATS): Is the MVP of the entire NBA really on the Thunder? F Kevin Durant certainly has a great gripe as we trickle towards the All-Star Break. He’s averaging 29.7 points per game and has scored at least 28 points in every game that he has played since January 9th. OKC has covered three straight and six out of eight.
1: New Jersey Nets (18-31-1 ATS): It was a rare good week for the Nets, who have gone 2-0-1 ATS in their L/3 games overall. Of course, Jersey only has one win SU since January 2nd and two wins SU since December 8th. One would say that this is a team that should be trading everyone at the deadline, but is there any other team in the league that really wants anyone on a team that is 4-46?
2: Washington Wizards (18-29-2 ATS): For whatever reason, the Wizards seem to have Orlando’s number. They’ve taken two SU victories as dogs against the Magic this year, including Friday’s buzzer-beating win at Amway Arena. Of course, aside from that, Washington is only 1-6 ATS since January 20th.
3: Boston Celtics (19-29-1 ATS): The Celtics are really killing their NBA wagering fans right now. They’re just 9-12 SU and 5-15-1 ATS in their L/21 games, and if they’re not careful, the Raptors may run them down in the Atlantic Division. Getting outscored 36-11 in the third quarter of the Orlando game on Sunday wasn’t exactly something to be proud of either.
The role players for the Los Angeles Lakers: In order to win a championship, it takes the effort of a lot more than just a superstar. On Saturday night, G Kobe Bryant missed the Lakers’ game against Portland. C Andrew Bynum was banged up just a few minutes into the game. But without those two, LA didn’t just survive; it dominated. Everyone played their role. G Ron Artest scored 21 points, F Lamar Odom pulled down 22 rebounds, a G Shannon Brown scored 19 off of the bench. The end result was a 99-82 road win, which may have been one of the more significant victories of the season.
The Bad
F Tayshaun Prince, Detroit Pistons: Remember when Prince was considered one of the best role players in the NBA? He always did a little bit of everything and managed to put up solid numbers. But this week, he only scored four points in 25 minutes against New Jersey and shot 2/12 from the floor in a 107-83 loss to Indiana.
The Ugly
Golden State Warriors: This eight-game losing streak has been particularly awful for the Warriors. In the L/6, they’ve allowed 114.8 points per game. Things may be getting uglier any day now, as there have been rumors of dealing G Monta Ellis are picking up. Ellis is scoring 26.2 points per game for Golden State, but it’s pretty clear that all he’s doing is stunting the growth of G Stephen Curry. Things are just ugly right now in Golden State and probably aren’t getting any better any time in the near future.
Tags: Atlanta Hawks, basketball betting, Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant, Lamar Odom, Los Angeles lakers, nba betting, New Jersey Nets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Ron Artest, Shannon Brown, Tayshun Prince, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards
Regaw Rants July 2nd Ranting about NBA free agent rumors and why steroids are not that bad anymore. Today there is a press conference to introduce Shaquille O’Neal as the newest member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. This is a great move for the Cavaliers as they add a big man and another legitimate scoring threat to play with Lebron James.  This is one heck of a shot by Cleveland management they are going for the Championship this year, but they are not alone. The Magic signed Vince Carter to compliment Dwight Howard and kept pace with the Cavs. The Pistons made two huge signings with Ben Gordon and Charlie Vellenueva and they got much younger. The latest report out is that the Celtics, not to be outdone, will sign Rasheed Wallace as they offered him a two year deal. This has made the Eastern conference the tougher conference in the NBA. The Lakers and the Spurs will represent the West but the East has a slew of teams that are dangerous. Houston is hurting with the news that Yao Ming is out maybe for the entire next year and the balance of power has shifted. Jason Kidd is considering the Knicks but my guess is Mark Cuban will not let him get away and the Mavericks have reportedly already offered him a three year deal. The Lakers just announced that they signed Ron Artest so they get even better! The free agent period is not over yet, but it is starting to heat up this summer! In baseball Manny Ramirez is slated to make his return to the Dodgers after serving a five game suspension. Is it just me or as a society are we okay with Steroids now? Manny was treated like a rock star in the minor leagues and he will receive a huge round of applause when he goes up to the plate at the next Dodger home game. I think we have been littered with so much news about steroids we almost accept it. The news that Sosa was on performance enhancing drugs (of course) went by without making a sound and unless some big names come out on the list from 2003 then steroid news may not even make the front page anymore. For those of you that think it is still a big deal, just check out NASCAR. Jeremy Mayfield tested positive for doing methamphetamines. He claimed it was a mixture of over the counter stuff and prescribed medication and the combination resulted in a positive test. Not quite. The results came back positive for meth! That is pretty serious when you’re driving a car at the speeds that drivers do. The PR machine that NASCAR is has kept this at a fairly low level of scrutiny. So maybe this is another reason why steroids has taken a back seat and seems less offensive than it used to be, unless your Wade Boggs of course.
Tags: Manny Rameriez, NBA Free Agents, Ron Artest, Shaq, steroids
