Online MLB baseball betting season is just getting underway, which means you have a couple of months before you can start making your serious picks for the World Series. In the NBA, the time is now as the regular season ends on Wednesday, and we’re going to see a youth movement heading into the postseason.Eastern Conference – Chicago
Everyone is pointing to the Bulls being a young team with not much playoff experience, but at this point, we’re not sure that it matters. Derrick Rose is, by far, the MVP of the league and he has reached the finals at every level he’s played at. Coach Tom Thibodeau has the Bulls playing defense, and they have a guy in Joakim Noah, who does all the dirty work (it also helps that he won back-to-back NCAA titles at Florida). Boston looks old and the loss of Kendrick Perkins was a killer, Miami is still struggling offensive late in games as anyone watching NBA scores will tell you, and Orlando, you have no idea what you’re going to get outside of Dwight Howard.
Western Conference – Oklahoma City
The Los Angeles Lakers may be going into the postseason without Andrew Bynum, and while they’re still great with Kobe Bryant, they’re not the same team without Bynum in the middle. San Antonio, even with 60-plus wins, can’t be trusted, especially if anything happens to any of the trio of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. Ask your price per head bookie what they think of Denver and Dallas and you could get any range of answers. The Nuggets have been brilliant without Carmelo Anthony, but we think they’ll run out of steam in the playoffs, while the Mavericks are San Jose of the NBA: great in the regular season, comes up short in the postseason, and that’s what counts. So we’re left with the Thunder, and the pickup of Perkins really gives them a rock in the middle and a toughness they’ve never had. They also have a duo in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook who are as good as anyone in the league.
NBA Finals Pick
This is going to be fun to watch, but we’re giving a slight edge to the Bulls because of their defense, and even though we think the world of Durant and Westbrook, Rose has willed the Bulls to this point and he’ll continue to do so. The Bulls have the size to bang with the Thunder, and we also think that Thibodeau is a better coach than Oklahoma City counterpart (and last year’s Coach of the Year) Scott Brooks, by the slimmest of margins. Jump on Chicago’s odds in your online sportsbook.
