Christmas NBA Opening Day games preview and predictions (December 25, 2011)

Saturday, 24 December 2011

The NBA season tips off on Sunday with five matches: Boston Celtics at New York Knicks, Miami Heat at Dallas Mavericks, Chicago Bulls at L.A. Lakers, Orlando Magic at Oklahoma City Thunder and L.A. Clippers at Golden State Warriors. Here is a closer look at all these games, including team news, best odds and free betting tips.

Boston Celtics at New York KnicksThe teams last met in the first round of the NBA Playoffs last spring, when the Celtics swept the Knicks in four-straight games. The Celtics also swept the regular season series, winning all four games. However, with Carmelo Anthony now fully settled in, plus the addition of championship center Tyson Chandler, things could be different at Madison Square Garden. They won both preseason matches against the New Jersey Nets (home-to-home stand) with a combined score of 15 points. Anyway, the Celtics’ success still revolves around their Big 4, the core lineup has played together for years and will have little cobwebs from the lengthy offseason.
Jeff Green, who just signed a one year deal with, will have to undergo heart surgery next month and will miss the entire season. Paul Pierce probaby will miss this match too. As for the Knicks, baron Davis will be unavailable until late January and Jared Jeffries is questionable.

Boston Celtics v New York Knicks predictions
New York Knicks @ 1.63
Under 193.5 total points @ 1.91

Miami Heat at Dallas MavericksAs this is the first home game of the season for Dallas, they will be raising their championship banner before the game begins. It is expected that LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade, and the rest of the Miami team are not going to be in a celebratory mood considering that they were the team that the Mavericks beat to win the NBA Championship last season. Miami is now the better team. Like a fine wine, this team will only get better over the years. The Mavs will miss Tyson Chandler, but Lamar Odom should fit in nicely with the team after a brief adjustment period. The Miami Big 3 will have Mario Chalmers and Joel Anthony within the starting five. Both Udonis Haslem and Norris Cole could well be involve and both look good in the pre-season warm up games against the Orlando Magic. Shane Battier and Eddie House are questionable for the Heats, while Beabouis and Jason Terry are doubtful for Dallas.

Miami Heat v Dallas Mavericks predictions
Miami -4.5 @ 1.92
Over 188.5 total points @ 1.93

Chicago Bulls at L.A. LakersLaker's Head Coach is Mike Brown, new to the staff after the retirement of Phil Jackson. Kobe Bryant's injured right wrist will the be the biggest injury concern in this matchup Sunday: he's questionable. The team lost Phil Jackson (retirement), traded for Chris Paul only to have the deal nixed by commissioner Stern and shipped the reigning sixth man of the year in Lamar Odom off to Dallas for virtually nothing in return. On the other side Chicago waived Keith Bogans, who started all 82 games last season, and replaced him with former Piston Rip Hamilton. The Bulls finished with the better record last year and looked a lot stronger. They were crying out loud to get a shooting guard last season to boost the points and this year they got their man. Chicagp beat the Pacers twice in their warm ups before the season start while Lakers lost twice against Clippers. A Chicago win over the Lakers would instantly put pressure on Eastern Conference foes Miami and New York.

Chicago Bulls v L.A. Lakers
Chicago Bulls @ 1.82
Chicago Bulls -6.5 @ 2.35

Orlando Magic at Oklahoma City ThunderFor the Orlando Magic, this past off-season has been disrupted by numerous trade rumors for their big man, Dwight Howard, and the rumors will continue until No.12 is eventually traded. Their situation will be much like Carmelo’s in Denver last year. This is going to be the first game for Glen Davis on the Orlando roster. Hedo Turkoglu (questionable for this matc), Jason Richardson, and Jameer Nelson are going to round out the starting five for this team this year, at least at the start of the season.
Although the Thunder brings back virtually the same roster for this shortened season, they didn’t really need to make any drastic changes to one of the best young teams in the entire league. Durant is hungry and so are the rest of the Thunder who have improved each year, going deeper into the playoffs. With the improvement of Serge Ibaka and a slimmed down Kenrick Perkins, the Thunder is in good shape to make some serious noise this season. Look for Oklahoma City to win this game handily.

Orlando Magic v Oklahoma City Thunder predictions
Oklahoma City Thunder -7.5 @ 1.91
Oklahoma City 13-16 winnin margin @ 6.50

L.A. Clippers at Golden State WarriorsMark Jackson makes his debut as Golden State’s head coach. He has a very young team this season,led by Monta Ellis, Brandon Rush and Dorell Wright, but also one of the weakest teams this season in our opinion. Golden State attempted to land Nene, Tyson Chandler, and even Marc Gasol. But to come up empty-handed, leaves the Warriors with nearly the same roster as last season. Stephen Curry may sit this one out after an ankle injury sustained in a recent loss to the Kings. Once the leaders of NBA blocked the passage of Chris Paul in LA Lakers, he joined the city rivals LA Clippers. Beside him, in the Clippers arrived and veteran Chauncey Billups. If on this two superstars we add DeAndre Jordan, Blake Griffin and Caron Butler, Clippers this season will be one of the strongest teams in the NBA. The Warriors will look for the upset, but Chris Paul is out to prove that the Clippers should be taken seriously this year as contenders.

L.A. Clippers v Golden State Warriors predictions
L.A. Clippers -4,5 @ 1.90
Over 211.5 total points @ 1.91

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