NBA takes Center Sports Stage

Now that football season is over sports bettors can turn their full attention to basketball, and the NBA. And in turn the Association and oddsmaker.ag offer up what should be a very entertaining Sunday of hoops action.

First, the top two teams in the Eastern Conference get together as the defending conference champion Boston Celtics host the Miami Heat (1 pm Eastern, ABC). Then in a rematch of the league championship series of two seasons ago the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers visit the Orlando Magic (3:30 pm Eastern, ABC).

Saturday's most intriguing game goes down in New Orleans when the Central Division-leading Chicago Bulls play the Hornets (8 pm Eastern, WGN).

Later on Sunday Western Conference playoff contenders meet when the Memphis Grizzlies host the Denver Nuggets (6 pm Eastern). And out in Oakland the Golden State Warriors host the Northwest Division-leading Oklahoma City Thunder (8 pm Eastern, ESPN).

Chicago broke a two-game losing streak with a 91-86 win at Utah on Wednesday night. So the Bulls lead the Central Division by 12.5 games, and they're only three games back of top-seeded Boston in the Eastern Conference standings.

New Orleans, which started 11-1 this season and has been in the Western Conference playoff picture ever since, has lost four games in a row and six of its last seven. And that includes defeats at the hands of Sacramento, Minnesota, and New Jersey. And while the Hornets still own the five spot in the West, they're only four games clear of ninth-place Memphis.

New Orleans, ranking 25th in scoring but third in points allowed, is 19-35 on the oddsmaker.ag OVER/UNDER this season. And Chicago is 20-31 on the totals.

Boston, 3-3 over its last six games, now leads Miami, which has won seven in a row, by just a half-game in the battle for home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Orlando, meanwhile, is only 9-8 over the last month, and sits in a tie with Atlanta for the four/five spots in the East.

The Celtics have already beaten the Heat twice this season, 88-80 on opening night in Beantown and 112-107 in Miami in early November.

In the West the Lakers have won the first two games of a seven-game road trip. But LA is now eight games back of San Antonio in the race for the best record in the West.

Basketball bettors should also check out the updated NBA futures market at oddsmaker.ag. As of Thursday morning Oddsmaker is listing the Lakers as the favorites to win the league championship this spring at +125. Miami comes next at +150, followed by, among others, Boston at +200, Orlando at +800, Chicago and Oklahoma City at +1,200, New Orleans at +4,000, and Denver at +6,000. And for those who like real longshots Golden State and Memphis are both getting +50,000.