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Brownout in ClevelandBasketball Betting Lines05/24/2010 - Philadelphia, PA - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - This is hardly the first time a superstar has been placated. Despite already owning an NBA championship, Paul Westhead was fired early in his third season as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers back in the early 1980s after Magic Johnson spoke out about the team's fractured locker room. Pat Riley succeeded Westhead and Magic's Lakers went on to win four more NBA titles. Fast-forward to the present. You knew someone was going to have to pay for the sins of underachieving in Cleveland. Did you really think it was going to be LeBron James? Armed with the two-time reigning MVP, Mike Brown's Cavs were expected to win the franchise's first championship at some time over the past two seasons. The club won 66 and 61 regular-season games, respectively, over those years but were ousted by Orlando in the conference finals last spring and suffered a humbling second-round loss to Boston in this year's postseason. Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the Cavaliers' playoff hiccups was the fact that they had home-court advantage in both setbacks. Winning year after year in the NBA is just not feasible. Losing in Game 7 to a Larry Bird-led Celtics team in Beantown was certainly no shame. Falling to a Magic-fueled Lakers club at the old Forum in Inglewood was almost expected. But, losing with home-court advantage is something the ghosts LeBron is chasing just don't do. Kobe Bryant's Lakers are a gaudy 24-1 in playoff series when the pivotal game was scheduled for LA and they are about to improve on the mark over the next week or so. Those who point to Kobe having Shaquille O'Neal for the majority of that time should understand things have only improved since Shaq left Hollywood. The Lakers were 15-1 with home-court advantage when Bryant and Shaq were together with the Lakers, the only loss being in the finals to Detroit in 2004. Since O'Neal's exit, Kobe's teams are 9-0 with home-court and are about to make it a perfect 10 as Bryant attempts to wins his fifth NBA championship Michael Jordan was even better. Give M.J. the hammer and he never, ever failed to perform. Jordan's teams were an astonishing 23-0 when they had home-court advantage. With James' impending free agency looming, removing Brown, a former Coach of the Year, is another attempt to entice the King to remain with the organization by increasing his already-sizeable power base. Many in Cleveland have reported that James has already vetoed a handful of trades general manager Danny Ferry has wanted to pursue. Meanwhile, rumors continue to swirl that James would like to go to an organization as a package deal with his hand-picked mentor, Kentucky coach John Calipari. "After a long and deep analysis of all of the factors that led to the disappointing early ends to our playoff runs over the past two seasons, we concluded that it was time for the Cavaliers to move in a different direction," Cleveland majority owner Dan Gilbert said when announcing the firing of Brown. He might as well have said -- "LeBron, who do you want to coach your team?" For whatever reason, people like to make excuses for James. They point to the balky elbow he carried into this year's postseason. They downgrade his supposed shaky supporting cast. They talk about the numerous off-court distractions that follow him around. Now, you can another to the ever-growing laundry list -- poor LeBron suffered at the hands of a "pedestrian" coach. "The expectations of this organization are very high and, although change always carries an element of risk, there are times when that risk must be taken in an attempt to break through to new, higher levels of accomplishment," Gilbert said. "This is one of those times." Change can be good or bad. Its only guarantee is that it is inevitable and James should understand every time an excuse is removed from the equation that is his career, the noose tightens around him. Sooner or later, the fingers will stop pointing at others and start pointing at James himself, whether he is playing in Cleveland, New York or Chicago.
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Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds. Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month. Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to bet on the NBA. With the regular season about to hit the homestretch, it is important to point out that MySportsbook.com has the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards. |
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