The Boston Celtics are the NBA’s reigning Eastern conference champions. The Orlando Magic are the team that held that title the previous year. The Miami Heat are the team that was expected to challenge both the Celtics and Magic to become the new champions of the east. While the Atlanta Hawks are the team that excels through the regular season, but doesn’t have the depth or grit to compete with the big guns when the NBA scores postseason comes around. After the first week of the NBA season, the Eastern conference is shaping up to be exactly what we thought it would.

After knocking off the Heat in their season opener, the Celtics fumbled a seemingly sure sports betting win against the Cavaliers, only to rebound with a solid offensive effort to take down the New York Knicks. While the focus has remained on the health of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, point guard Rajon Rondo has continued to establish himself as an integral piece of the organization, and has averaged an incredible 16.7 assists through the first three games. Unlike in Miami, an established Rondo would help Boston to feature a “Big Four” rather than three, and with centers Jermaine and Shaq O’Neal getting things done on the boards, the Celtics are still a powerhouse.

The Magic dominated their way through the preseason, beating all seven of their opponents by at least 25 points before blowing away the Washington Wizards in their season opener. Orlando was perhaps a little too confident in their abilities however, and that showed when they were taken apart by the Heat in an absolute beatdown in front of their home crowd, falling 96-70. The Magic will be near the top of the conference again this year, but will have a lot of work to do.

Miami proved that by showing how dominant they can be despite it being so early on, and despite the way the Celtics were able to handle their offense. A smothering Heat defense is perhaps the biggest reason for Miami looking so good early on, and as soon as they find their scoring rhythm, it looks as though they are the perfect sports betting candidate to challenge the Celtics’ supremacy.

The Hawks on the other price per head hand are 3-0, and on top of their division following their home opener win over the Washington Wizards, which came on the heels of consecutive road wins at both Memphis and Philadelphia. However, Atlanta will not get any respect for beating below average teams during the regular season, especially considering how easily they were dismissed from last years playoffs. Using the same core players they did a year ago will make it difficult for the Hawks to go far.

After one week of the NBA season, we are already able to see how the Eastern conference is panning out. Unlike in NFL betting, there is a lot less surprise in basketball, and that should continue as the Eastern conference is shaping up to be what we thought it was.

Real online betting players know just how important Bruce Bowen was to San Antonio’s chances each and every year, until recently when coach Gregg Popovich said that Kobe Bryant was basically unguardable, and sent Bowen to Milwaukee for Richard Jefferson.

Brown came into the NBA in 1997 after playing in Europe, but settled in with San Antonio in 2001 and turned out to be one of the biggest pests in the league, ending up with three NBA titles, eight All-Defensive team honors, and a boatload of enemies. See, Bowen was a borderline dirty player, and he can deny it all he wants, but too many players have landed on his foot for it to be solely coincidental. He’s been accused by everyone from Vince Carter to Steve Nash of foul play, and they’re not really wrong. But the thing is, they were thinking about Bowen, and not on the game, which gave San Antonio the edge in your offshore sportsbook.

So, love him or hate him, we’re betting management all across the league is happy to see him finally bow out at age 38. So here’s to you, Bruce Bowen. I don’t like you one little bit, but you get respect from this sports betting blog.

Age ain’t nothing but a number, and there are a number of guys in various sports that are trying to overcome the betting odds and beat the youngins’.

-Tim Watson (59) falls just short of quite possibly the most insane feat in sports history, losing to Stewart Cink in a playoff at the British Open.

-Jeff George (41) apparently looked real good while throwing to receivers at his alma mater, Illinois, and Illini coach Ron Zook is trying to get him a tryout with an NFL squad.

-Mark Martin (50) leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup series with four wins and is one of the favorites in your offshore sportsbook to win the title.

-Lance Armstrong (37) came in third in his quest for a eighth Tour de France.

-Michael Schumacher (40), a seven-time Formula 1 champion, will take over for the injured Felipe Massa for the rest of the season for Ferrari.

The best chance of this happening in the NBA probably comes from 37-year-old Shaquille O’Neal, who signed with Cleveland, yet still has time to film a television show and Twitter constantly. Shaq is coming off an All-Star year in Phoenix, and the Cavaliers are one of the favorites in your handicapping software to win the title. Outside of Shaq, you have former Phoenix teammate Steve Nash (35) and Dallas’ Jason Kidd (36), who just signed contract extensions with their teams.

All I know is, I’d still put a Michael Jordan-led team in my sports picks.

So, there’s some stuff going on, NBA offseason stuff, affects betting odds, blah, blah, blah….the real news is Stephon Marbury’s five-day bender that he streamed to the world….for what reason, I don’t know. He could even still be doing it, I had to stop after this:

Sucks, because dude used to be one of my favorite ballers, selfishness and all. He tore it up at Georgia Tech, and he has solid career numbers (19.3 points, 7.6 assists in 846 games). Boston thought he was still good enough to help their sports betting chances when they grabbed him late in the season, but outside of one good game (actually, it was more like a quarter), he was little more than a cheerleader. He’s now a sideshow, and I don’t even know what to say about the whole “streaming your life when you’re obviously goin’ through some things” part of this all. All I know is, before Marbury plays in the NBA again, I’d put “Grizzlies to go 82-0″ as one of my sports picks first.

Word filtered down that Anderson Varejao has signed a six-year deal with Cleveland, reported to be around $42.5 million, with incentives to push it over $50 million. Shoot, I’m in the business of making sports picks, I should probably stretch myself out and grow stupid hair, right?

Now, Sideshow Bob is one of those dudes that you love him if he’s on your team, and hate him when he’s not. But he had amazing career highs of 8.6 points and 7.2 assists last year, and you pay $7 mil a year for that? Everyone says, “oh, he does stuff that doesn’t show up in the stat sheet”, and that’s all fine and good. But it Anderson Varejao really improving Cleveland’s betting odds this year. More importantly, if they had let him walk, how much better would another team be without him?

What he needs to do is take some of that money, and put it on UFC betting underdog Frank Mir on Saturday, spread some of that luck around. It’s either luck, or his agent game is tight.

The New Jersey Nets won’t have very good NBA betting odds to win the championship, but there are few stories in the league that are as good as Devin Harris. The point guard was a star at Wisconsin, winning a pair of Big Ten titles before leaving for the league, where he was drafted by Dallas. The Mavericks, particularly former coach Avery Johnson, seemed to be unable to give Harris the control a point guard needed, and he underachieved before he was traded to New Jersey for future Hall-of-Famer Jason Kidd. Harris has since exploded, becoming an All-Star for the first time this year, and essentially dragging the Nets to the playoffs. And then, he came up with the play of the year last night against Philadelphia:

No slight on J-Kidd, he’s goin’ straight to the Hall, and he’s a legend. But Dallas messed this trade up bigtime. Harris is only 25 and just entering the prime of his career, while Kidd is on the downside and the Mavericks still aren’t close to being a championship contender in the tough West. If the Nets can put some pieces around Harris, and if rookie big man Brook Lopez can continue to improve, New Jersey could be a problem soon.

July 1, 2010 is not coming quickly enough for NBA general managers. Just look at this free-agent class that will on the market: LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire, Joe Johnson and Yao Ming lead the way, while veteran stars suck as Steve Nash, Shaquille O’Neal, Tracy McGrady, Michael Redd, Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobili, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen could also be looking for work. Very exciting stuff.

My problem is that…..it’s 2008. Yes, the New York Knicks made some moves that was obviously a ploy to free cap space for 2010, and many other teams will be doing so (unless some GMs haven’t done their homework). And we all know that having a player like James on your team will boost your championship hopes, as well as your NBA betting odds. But the stars sound like they are getting tired of hearing the questions already, as James’ interview with Stephen A. Smith a couple nights ago showed. It’s going to be a long 19 months.

Oh, and this video is a 3-minute compilation of James’ work so far this season. Is it just me or is he looking more physically dominant that ever before? Like, “dunking on three people is just what I do” dominant.

This weekend’s big matchup that should have you scrambling for your online sportsbooks will take place in Toronto, where the Raptors will host the Boston Celtics in a Sunday matinee matchup. Things got a little heated last time these two met (see video below), and culminated with Sam Mitchell (Garnett’s mentor) essentially calling Kevin Garnett a fake thug for getting in the face of a much-smaller, but feisty, Jose Calderon. Sunday should have something for everyone, whether you are just a fan of the league or you like to bet online.

The Celtics have split their last ten visits to Toronto with the Raptors, but have won on two straight trips up north. Paul Pierce was the difference in a 94-87 win last month in Boston, lighting up the Raptors for 36 points, including 22 in the final stanza. If the Raptors want revenge, they will have to focus on “The Truth” and not let Garnett get into their heads. Chris Bosh was held to only nine points in 40 minutes: you can bet that he will be better this time out. Celtics vs Raptors odds will be up in the air for this one, as the Celtics were favored by a point in their last trip to Toronto, while the Raptors were favored by 1.5 points before that.

Boston Celtics star and future Hall-of-Famer Kevin Garnett does not know when to let up. 11 games into the season, and the “Big Ticket” has picked up a one-game suspension for swinging on Milwaukee center Andrew Bogut during a road overtime win last weekend. This will surely affect the NBA betting lines for tonight’s game, when the Celtics host the New York Knicks. But the bigger question is, what’s bothering KG?
Last week, Garnett went at Toronto point guard Jose Calderon and starting yelling and wagging his finger, to which Calderon responded likewise.

Garnett is a great player, but this type of play is reminiscent of Sean Avery of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, the ultimate agitator. Remember when Avery, while with the New York Rangers, spent the entire playoff series against New Jersey last season waving his stick in front of the face of of New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur? That is what Garnett reminded me of, and he’s better than that. Stick to the game, KG.