HOUSTON — Who will be the MVP of the 2013 All-Star Game? The oddsmakers are seriously down on Tim Duncan, who may not even play, but they are offering a couple of value bets, too. If I was a gambler (which I am not, unless we are talking poker), I’d take a flyer on James Harden of the Houston Rockets, who will be playing on his home court and will be the only player with a majority of the crowd behind him. Harden
(A couple weeks ago, I asked my Twitter followers whether they’d like to see a regular weekly feature on NBA gambling trends, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Since we are striving at this Web site to give you stuff you can’t get elsewhere, such as regular coverage of Euroleague, a FiveFastFacts item that can be consumed in less time than it takes to drink a cup of coffee, and the enormously popular Tweet of the Day/Night, we shall now
In what comes as no surprise at all, the defending champion Miami Heat and the loaded Los Angeles Lakers are favored to reach the NBA Finals. Gaming site Bovada.lv released its odds for winning the championship and has the Heat at 11-5 and the Lakers slightly higher at 5-2. Miami has reached the Finals each of the last two years, defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games last season. Los Angeles has not reached the conference finals since it last won