NBA Playoff Betting – Will Anyone Stop a LeBron-Kobe Finals?

NBA Finals odds have the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers facing off for the Larry O’Brien Trophy, or maybe they’re just hoping like the rest of us (David Stern is fainting just thinking about it). They failed to make a dream final last year (apologies to Orlando), can they make it happen in 2010?

Eastern Conference

It’s tough to see anyone in the East getting past the Cavaliers with the way LeBron James is playing, and if he doesn’t get his second straight MVP, I’ll rethink everything I know about basketball, sports, and life in general. The Cavaliers picked up Shaquille O’Neal to bang with Orlando’s Dwight Howard in the paint, and they picked up another solid scoring option in Antawn Jamison. The Magic are the best bet to beat Cleveland with Howard and their merry band of three-point shooters, but a team with Vince Carter in the playoffs isn’t that encouraging if you’re doing NBA playoffs betting">NBA playoffs betting. Atlanta has moved ahead of Boston in the East’s pecking order, but we’re not sure that a team with Joe Johnson as their best player is a team capable of making it to the NBA Finals.

Western Conference

This is much more wide open as the Lakers looked mortal in the second half of the year. Kobe Bryant is battling injuries, but he’s still the “Black Mamba”. Andrew Bynum is back and healthy, and Ron Artest is playing excellent defense on the likes of Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, the NBA’s scoring leader. Dallas may be their biggest threat, although some feel that they may come out on the short end of the Spurs vs Mavericks odds in the first round.  But Dallas has experience in Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd, secondary scoring in Jason Terry and Caron Butler, and by adding Brendan Haywood to the lineup to combine with Erick Dampier at center, the Mavericks now have the length and size to hang with the Lakers. Phoenix doesn’t play defense well enough as usual, Denver has a lot of off-court issues to deal with (coach George Karl’s cancer treatments), and Utah, outside of Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, can’t be depended on.  It should be an exciting West final, but the Lakers get the edge due to coaching. You want to bet against a coach with 10 rings?

NBA Finals

So the Finals will be the dream matchup that everyone is watching for, and we’ll see the passing of the torch. The Cavs can run a number of different players at Bryant, and while Artest will make life difficult for James, the Cleveland star will make a number of big plays to get other involved. Jamison will battle Pau Gasol to a standstill in the post, while Derek Fisher will have a tough time keeping up with Mo Williams. Finally, Cleveland’s bench is stronger than the Lakers’ second unit, and they’ll help James win the title for the Cavaliers, thus sparking a number of sports betting odds on where he’ll end up next season.