NBA Weekly Review – The Race out East

With the 2008-09 NBA regular season quickly coming to a close, this look back at the week that was should help point NBA bettors in the right direction toward making a multitude of winning wagers in the BetOnline Sportsbook throughout the upcoming week and heading into the postseason.

In the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers appear to be on a serious mission to dethrone the Boston Celtics as defending conference and league champions.

Cleveland has won a whopping 12 straight games heading into Monday and have reached the 60-win mark for the first time in franchise history.

The Celtics have won two straight and seven of 10 to move into second place in the Eastern Conference, just one-half game ahead on No. 3 Orlando, the winners of each of its last five games.

Fourth-place Atlanta and eight place Chicago have each gone 7-3 over its last 10 while No. 5 Miami has struggled with Dwyane Wade carrying far too much of the burden, going just 5-5 SU in its L/10.

Sixth place Philadelphia has dropped two straight heading into Monday while the seventh place Detroit Pistons have gone just 4-6 SU in its L/10 but are riding a two-game winning streak heading into the new week.

In the Western Conference, the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Atlanta Hawks their last time out, but have gone an impressive 8-2 SU over its L/10. The second place San Antonio Spurs have gone just 5-5 SU over its L/10 and just don’t seem to have the look of a real threat to the Lakers.

The third place Denver Nuggets have won three consecutive games to move to 8-2 SU in their L/10 while fourth place Denver has gone 7-3 over their last ten contests.

Portland, Utah and New Orleans, seeded fifth through seventh, have all gone 6-4 over their L/10 while eight place Dallas is holding on to their loose grip on the conference’s eighth and final spot.

Other streaking teams include Toronto, winners of four straight, Milwaukee 0-5 SU in their L/10, New Jersey, 0-4 SU in their L/4.

In the Western Conference, the Suns and Thunder have each lost three straight while Golden State has dropped each of its last four contests.