Bulls and Nuggets need wins

The NBA teams that reside in Windy City and Rocky Mountains are feeling the pinch with seven days left in the regular season. The Chicago Bulls were once comfortably in the playoff picture, second in the Central Division and marching merrily along as a young team on the rise. But even in the Eastern Conference, 10-game losing streaks can really impact your position in the standings (unless you’re New Jersey) and the Bulls season imploded like another Illinois political scandal.

Chicago (37-40, 39-36-2 ATS) fell below motoring Milwaukee in the division and all the way out of the top eight slots in the East, trailing Toronto by one game, despite coming back to win six of last nine SU and ATS.

Chicago desperately wants to sign Dwayne Wade as max free agent, which is why they traded John Salmons to the Bucks, taking on the expiring contracts of Hakim Warrick and Joe Alexander. While this vision might work towards the future, it did nothing for Chicago in the present.

Since the Feb. 18 trade, Da Bulls are 10-14 and 13-11 ATS with Salmons up the road on I-94 in Sudsville. Milwaukee, well a consistent NBA guard who can score in the backcourt has elevated the Bucks to 19-6, 18-5-2 ATS since that fateful day.

Chicago has to face Cleveland (61-17, 38-38-2 ATS) next, just the best and deepest team in the NBA. The one edge the Bulls could have is the Cavaliers have set the cruise control and are resting various players until the regular season is finished.

Cleveland tried to help Chicago, taking down Toronto 113-101 as 5.5-points favorites, but the wully-Bullies couldn’t handle a depleted Bucks squad and lost by five at United Center. The Cavs are 24-11-1 ATS after a double digit triumph, while Chicago is 6-0 ATS after a SU defeat.

The Bulls are 2.5-point favorites and have covered four of last five in Chi-Town against LeBron and the fellas and this Central showdown is on TNT which starts a bit after 8:00 Eastern.

Nuggets not playing tasty basketball

Denver (51-27, 34-39-5 ATS) has gone from sole possession division leader and second seed in the West to fifth in the conference.

The Nuggets have had their fair share of frightful opponents, yet that doesn’t explain their 6-6 record and frigid 2-9-1 ATS spread mark in last 12 contests.

The single common denominator is the absence of George Karl who last attended a game on March 16. While Karl is above average coach, he’s not thought of as elite, nonetheless his voice it seems is the one Denver players responds to.

According to the Denver Post, Karl has lost 25 pounds, has difficulty speaking and may need to be fed through a tube for up to six more months, that doesn’t sound like person that could be returning to the bench anytime in the near future sadly.

That leaves it up to the team leaders like Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to be role models and max their abilities for the Nuggets to be victorious.

Denver hosts the Los Angeles Lakers (55-22, 32-43-2 ATS) after facing Oklahoma City last night. The Nuggets are 32-6 at the Pepsi Center (18-19-1 ATS), winning by 9.6 points per game, which is the third best home record in the NBA. The Lakers are 22-16 (16-22-1 ATS) on the road and Denver is 7-0 ATS against clubs with winning visitor’s record and Bookmaker.com has them as two-point favorites with total of 204.

One extra large negative for Carmelo’s crew is recent 1-7-1 ATS mark when playing with no rest and they are 8-2 UNDER, as offense has been stalling with Kenyon Martin and Chris Anderson on the sidelines.

To move back up in the standings, Denver needs this contest which starts at approximately 10:35 Eastern and the other three remaining games on the schedule to improve conference position for the playoffs.

NBA offers two tough choices Thursday

Though injuries are a part of the game in any sport, it seems this season more games than ever are releasing later numbers on sides and totals. Kobe Bryant is the reason for the Lakers and Boston matchup coming out later than what most would prefer and based on his comments yesterday, he’s 50-50 at best for tonight. Both Denver and Cleveland have dealt with their fair share of missed games by key players and now Nuggets coach George Karl will begin treatment again for cancer, adding another factor to consider. Betting the NBA is difficult enough besides trying to figure out other variables.

Cleveland improves, while Denver mulls future

The Cavaliers front office is looking to make sure they do everything in their power to set up LeBron James and teammates for a return visit to the NBA Finals. Yesterday, they engineered a three-way trade that brings Antawn Jamison to town from Washington, giving them one more scoring option within 15 feet of the basket. No word if the long time Wizard star will be there for tonight’s game on time, however it would seem he would relish the chance to be a club with a true chance to win a title and would try to get to Cleveland by air, bus or even driving a Toyota.

Cleveland (43-11, 28-25-1 ATS) has mowed down 13 straight opponents (8-5 ATS) as they prepare for first game in a week and the Cavaliers are 17-7 ATS playing against a team with a winning record this season. “I think our team is built to win a championship,” James said. “With the group of guys we have here, if we continue to get better, we’re headed in the right direction.” King James has been doing his part, averaging 33.5 points a game in last six contests prior to All-Star break.

Denver (35-18, 24-26-3 ATS) has seen stars Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony miss considerable time this season, yet they’ve been able to hear that one voice in the locker room, on the practice floor and the one on bench during games. The importance of coaching in the NBA has been debated for decades, since the teams with the best talent usually win; nonetheless, a coach today has to know how to massage massive egos, while challenging his players to get better. What the loss of Karl will mean is impossible to gauge at the moment.

It was shocking just to hear it,” forward Kenyon Martin told the Nuggets’ official Web site. “He told us he’s battled it before so he knows what it takes to get right. He’s going to do all he can to get his body right and his health together and we’re going to do all we can to make sure the basketball end is taken care of.” A rested Denver squad is good for the Nuggets with 28-12 ATS record when playing four or less games in 10 days over the last two seasons.

Bookmaker.com has Cleveland as 6.5-point favorites with 206 point total and it will be worth watching to see if they can keep up same pace of 15-2 ATS record in home games after two straight outings converting 50 percent of their shots or better. Denver has quickie two game road sojourn and is 26-10 ATS after consecutive home contests.

This is the opener on TNT starting at 8:00 Eastern and the Nuggets are 4-8 SU and ATS in last dozen visits to what Forbes is now calling “America’s most miserable city”. Denver is also 21-7 UNDER as an underdog of 3.5 to 9.5 points over the last two seasons.

Kobe, where are you?

Less than three weeks ago, the Celtics and Lakers matchup were being sold to the masses as one of the greatest games of all time with the ESPN/ABC hype machine in overdrive. This time at 10:30 on the East Coast, not so much. Other factors are also playing a role why this contest, still meaningful, lacks the panache this time around.

Start with Kobe Bryant, unlikely to play with bad wheel, which would make five straight games without him for the Lakers. Los Angeles (42-13, 25-28-2 ATS) is still an extremely talented club and they have reeled off four wins in a row in his absence, covering three of them. It would also make sense for Bryant not to play, since the Lakers don’t play again until next Tuesday, buying even more time for him. L.A. is 26-4 and 14-15-1 ATS at the Staples Center, winning by 9.9 points per game.

This is the middle game of a five-game road trip for Boston (33-18, 19-31-1 ATS) and rumors continue to swirl the Celtics are trying to deal Ray Allen for a younger shooting guard. Boston is 8-10 since Jan. 8, hardly championship material and backers have spoken with great turgidity about 4-13-1 ATS record in that span.

One belief Boston fans have is Paul Pierce will play well, as the Los Angeles native has averaged 27.1 points a game in 10 visits against the Lakers. Boston won, but failed to cover two nights ago in Sacramento and is 10-19-1 ATS after a non-cover this season and will be a four-point road underdog, trying to improve on inept 1-10-1 ATS mark against Pacific Division clubs.

The Lakers go for fifth win in a row and sweep of Celtics and off their 104-94 win Tuesday over Golden State, are 7-1-1 ATS after scoring 100 or more points. L.A. is just 1-4 ATS hosting Boston in last five tries, though the favorite is 5-2-1 ATS in previous eight regular season encounters.

Denver Earning Respect

Coach George Karl has been around basketball his entire life, playing at North Carolina, a solid ABA and NBA player and later a coach. His reputation as NBA head coach is somewhere between above average to never rated in top five. This is his fifth stop on the professional coaching trail. Though he’s won over 900 games as NBA coach, he’s probably known more for his team’s failures than success. As coach of Seattle (1992–1998), Karl's 1994 squad won 63 games, yet flamed out when Sonics were upset in the first round by the Denver Nuggets, making them the first number one seed in NBA history to fall to an eight seed.

After departing Seattle, Karl was lured by lucrative contract to Milwaukee and immediately helped turn around a moribund franchise, which culminated in a losing in seven games in the 2001 Eastern Finals to Philadelphia, led by Allen Iverson.

Karl had been reunited with Iverson, this time as his coach in Denver, however it was obvious to veteran NBA followers, Iverson was not a facilitator and they traded him to Detroit for Chauncey Billups. The former Piston embraced returning home to Colorado and his new teammates appreciated the pass-first mentality.

Denver looked headed down another nice season only to be dismissed in the first round of the playoffs, especially after losing a third straight game in early March, the last at home, to a tougher-minded Houston team.

Whatever happened at that point, only the players and coaches know, but the Nuggets as a team scrapped the “soft” label and finished the year 14-3 (10-7 ATS), winning the Northwest Division with franchise-tying 54 victories and securing number two seed in the Western Conference.

The next test was beating New Orleans in opening round of playoffs. Yes, the Hornets were banged up, but that wasn’t Denver’s problem, they had enough playoff failures to write an e-book. The Nuggets completely neutralized the Hornets the first two games on home court to take 2-0. Denver had upper hand early against New Orleans in Game 3, but the Hornets fought their way back to victory 95-93.

This placed onus on a better Denver team to standup and prove they deserved second seed and did they ever. A 36-15 first quarter blitz left New Orleans with no gear to find to comeback and the Nuggets seared them 121-63. Denver's 58-point win matched the most lopsided victory in NBA playoff history, since the Minneapolis Lakers 133-75 blowout of the St. Louis Hawks in 1956. Without digging into the research, taking a stab at saying the 59.5-point cover is the largest in postseason history.

Coach Karl considered Game 4 the most complete and efficient game in his coaching career and now wants his club to go for the kill and polish off New Orleans. Denver is 16-5 ATS after playing as road underdog and is on the verge of winning first playoff series in 15 years and first best of seven in 24 years.

Denver understands the professional pride aspect of the Hornets losing in such a manner and they have to be prepared for New Orleans best shot. "I don't think we're overconfident," Anthony Carter said. "We weren't overconfident on the bus ride from the area. It was quiet like we just lost. We weren't playing loud music, celebrating or none of that." The Nuggets are 10-4 ATS after scoring 100 or more points.

Oddsmakers, like those at BetJamaica.com believe in coach Karl’s team after four covers in four games and have installed them as 10-point favorites, the highest figure of the series. Denver is 8-3 ATS after covering the number. The total has gone back up heading back to the Mile High city to 197 and Carmelo Anthony and friends are 9-3 OVER as favorites.

It’s a tall mountain for New Orleans to climb, as Chris Paul looked thoroughly spent in having one of the worst games of his career after playing 46 minutes in Game 3 and they are 7-20 as road underdogs and 14-2 UNDER after trailing in their previous game by 20 or more points at the half.

Denver goes for knockout on TNT at 10:35 Eastern, with Hornets 5-15 ATS as a road underdog of 6.5 to 12 points, losing by average of 11.2 points a game.