With the 2016 NBA All-Star Weekend that started this past Friday night with several competitions, and then the big game concludes the weekend with the All-Star game with the West playing the East. The game on Sunday the 14th of February and Valentine’s Day will be played at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario with the tip-off scheduled for 8:05 PM ET and seen on TNT TV.
If you’re a fan who Bet on NBA the early Vegas odds has the West favorites at -5 ½ with the Over/under at 318 and -225 on the Money Line, while the East are listed as underdogs at +5 ½ and +185 on the ML.
As most fans know the players who will start in this NBA All-Star game are decided by the voting of the fans, and head coaches around the league select the bench players for this game. The players with the leading votes was Cavaliers L. James with 1,089205 in the Eastern Conference team, while Lakers K. Bryant led the voting for the Western Conference team with some 1, 894,615.
Many West Coast fans felt that Golden State’s D Green should have been a starter for the Western Conference, since Bryant has struggled this season and is shooting his career low 35.2 percent from the field, and his team the Lakers have the 2nd worst record in the Western Conference. While the Warriors Green has been played like a triple double machine as he has 7.5 assists, 9.7 rebounds and averaged some 14.6 points each game.
Fans also are of the belief that the selection of Bryant became a sentimental selection, since he had announced his retirement at the end of this 2015-16 seasons. Regardless the oddsmakers like the chances of the Western Conference winning with their present selected roster.
In the 2014-15 All-Star game the West was a 4 point favorite and won the game 163-158 over the East covering the spread. Amazingly the ultimate 2 points scored by the West came from un-important foul shots allowing the West to win the game.
In that game the OKC guard R. Westbrook had 3 steals, 6 rebounds and scored 41 points and won the MVP award for that NBA All-Star game. For proposition bets Westbrook was at +1600 to win the MVP award in that 2014-15 game.
This season the players with fewer than that +1600 odds, are some 8 players with the favorite being the Warriors S. Curry at +350 who this season has had 5.4 assists, 6.6 rebounds and averaging some 29.9 points each game. The field is listed at +600 while Curry with his 2015-16 performance is listed at -1200 to win the title.
This 2016 All-Star game should be very exciting for fans, but many have a lot of interest in the competitive events that are on Saturday night that include the Slam Dunk, the 3-point contest and the Skills Challenge.
Yes, the NBA has removed the Shooting Stars completion and likewise has added Four Big Men to the Skills Challenge where the competition includes an obstacle course, in which the participants must dribble, pass and shoot from the different stations on the court.
In past years the All-Star’s Slam Dunk event was seen to be the evening most exciting of competitions, but that may see a change this season. Last season S. Curry of the Warriors won that contest with 27 points, and set a new record and had a streak completing 13 straight shots. So this year Curry will seek to keep that title, as he will face a very talented group of players including some of his Western Conference teammates all of whom are completing 40% or more of their 3-pointers to date.
So one more important fact for the sports betting fans is that in the ultimate 16 years, the Western Conference has won this game on 10 different occasions, and in the ultimate 5 seasons they have won the All-Star game 4 times.