Lakers at Utah, Friday November 26^th 10:00 PM

EnergySolutions Arena, the home court of the Utah Jazz, has been called the toughest road game on the NBA schedule. This does not seem to be the case for the Los Angeles Lakers, who have made it a Spring-time tradition to silence the Utah crowd in the playoffs as they stomp all over the Mormons’ beloved Jazz. Lakers guard Kobe Bryant seems to make a point of quieting the non-alcoholic beer drinkers by decimating any defender Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan throws at him; Andrei Kirilenko, CJ Miles, whoever. Kobe famously air balled two shots against the Jazz in the playoffs during the early stages of his career and one would think that the “Mamba” remembers that failure every time he hangs 30 plus points on Utah. The Lakers will look to pick up where they left off on Friday night – attacking the grounded Jazz post players with their long, athletic duo of Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol then letting Kobe take over if the game gets close. Jazz point guard Deron Williams has had an exceptional start to the season and should have no problem getting by the Lakers’ Steve Blake and Derek Fisher. However, if Lakers Coach Phil Jackson sees Williams taking advantage of the matchup at guard, expect the Zen master to give the assignment to defensive stopper Ron Artest in the fourth quarter.

Miami at Dallas, Saturday November 27^th 8:30 PM

In a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals, the Heat will again try to build some semblance of team chemistry as they take on the Mavericks, who seem to be coming together perfectly. Dallas fans (Mark Cuban included) will surely be anxious to rain boos down upon Heat guard Dwayne Wade, who famously rode favourable treatment from the referees to clutch the Heat’s first championship and now struggles to find a rhythm with his new star teammates. Wade is shooting a ghastly %25 on shots outside of 10 feet this season and that poor shooting can be traced to his inability to build an on-court relationship with LeBron James. James and Wade are both ball-dominant players who are seemingly only effective when the entire offense is predicated on their individual talent. When either has the ball for the Heat, they tend to over-dribble while the other All-Star stands still. Miami forward Chris Bosh will be in tough trying to guard the Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki, who is once again enjoying an MVP-caliber campaign. Bosh is a terrible defender so Nowitzki should have his way with him and produce plenty of easy scores. The chemistry and defense of Dallas’ role players Tyson Chandler, Shawn Marion, DeShawn Stephenson and Caron Butler along with the strong point guard play of veteran Jason Kidd should give Miami a glimpse of the ingredients they are missing as they strive for championship contention.

San Antonio at New Orleans, Sunday November 28^th 3:00 PM

This game is a matchup of two of the top Western Conference teams, and more specifically, a clash between two lightning-quick point guards. New Orleans’ Chris Paul has performed like the league’s Most Valuable Player to start the season in sparking the Hornets to an 11-3 record. Paul is again controlling the pace of every game he plays in, pushing the tempo to provide his teammates with easy buckets, using his genius instincts to create turnovers on defense and scoring at will when he feels like his team needs him to. The charge of guarding Paul will fall on Spurs guard Tony Parker, fresh off news that his wife, actress Eva Longoria, filed for divorce and playing some of the best ball of his career. Parker is a speedster who is a master at finishing around the cup after turning on the jets. Paul is one of the few guards who can stay in front of Parker and Hornets’ swingman Trevor Ariza is good enough defensively to limit Manu Ginobili. Though Parker and Paul will be the headliners, this game will be decided in the post, where New Orleans big men David West and Emeka Okafor will battle with Tim Duncan and Antonio McDyess. Paul has returned the energy to New Orleans and has brought his team into the playoff conversation but playing against veteran San Antonio, who are currently atop the NBA standings, will be a tough test.

College football betting players have watched the ACC struggle this year, but they should get a good show on the hardwood as the defending national champions from Duke continues to roll, but they’ll get some competition.

Duke- The Blue Devils might be better this year if point guard Kyrie Irving lives up to the hype. He’ll have returning seniors Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith with him, along with Miles and Mason Plumlee. The X-factor may be Seth Curry, who lit up the country at Liberty a couple of years ago, and should provide some bench scoring.

North Carolina- The Tar Heels have all the talent in the world, and in Harrison Barnes, they could have next year’s No.1 pick in the draft. But Barnes can’t do it all on his own, and if the Tar Heels are going to push their bitter rivals from Duke for the conference crown, they have to stop turning the ball over.

Florida State- The darkhorse in this race, along with North Carolina State, the Seminoles have a chance because they consistently play great defense, and they have a beast of a player in Chris Singleton, who can play inside and out. Xavier Gibson is going to have to help down in the post as the Seminoles look to
replace Solomon Alabi. If Gibson can be a force down low, with their odds, you may be tempted to throw some down on Florida State in your sports book.