College Basketball Betting: Huskies at Panthers

Playoff time approaches in the NBA, as teams try to pin down good seedings in the last two weeks of the regular season. This Thursday night, TNT will broadcast a couple of games with definite playoff implications. In the opener, the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers hit DC to take on the Washington Wizards (8 pm Eastern). And in the nightcap, the Utah Jazz visit the Northwest Division-leading Denver Nuggets in an important Western Conference bout (10:30 Eastern).

The Cavs won their 13th straight game on Tuesday night, beating the Detroit Pistons 79-73. Cleveland got out of the gate very slowly against their division rivals, scoring just 12 points in the first quarter. But the Cavs defense, which leads the league in opponents' FG%, did its job again, holding Detroit to 35% shooting on the night as Cleveland took over late in the game for the victory.

But the Cavaliers could not cover the 10-point spread they were chalked by on the Oddsmaker.com NBA betting line.

The Cavs also received a gift from the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday night, as Larry Brown's boys upset the Los Angeles Lakers 94-84. So Cleveland, which already leads the East by 5.5 games over both the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic, now leads LA by three games in the race for the best record in the league. Which, of course, earns one homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, including the league championship series.

The Cavs run into a Washington team on Thursday night that is again just playing out the remainder of the regular season. Going into their game at Memphis on Wednesday, the Wizards had won 17 games this season, and led Sacramento, the Clippers, Memphis and a few others in the quest to have the most ping-pong balls in the next draft lottery. But as lopsided as Thursday's matchup appears, Washington has split two games with Cleveland so far this season, and cashed in both times, winning 80-77 as nine-point underdogs and losing 93-89 getting 15 points.

Denver will be looking to hang on to the second-place slot in the West it grabbed with the help of a 111-104 victory over New York on Tuesday. The Nugs built a 27-point lead in the second quarter, and shot 55% from the floor for the game. But Denver allowed the Knicks to scratch back to within a couple of buckets in the third quarter, and in the end the Nuggets were unable to cover the spread as 12.5-point home favorites.

Meanwhile the Jazz allowed Portland to shoot a scorching 62% from the field in a 125-105 Portland rout on Tuesday night. Utah fell behind by 11 points in the opening five minutes of the game, and never really even threatened to cover the spread as six-point underdogs on the road.

So going into Thursday's game, Denver owned the two spot in the West, but sat just a half-game ahead of both the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets. And seventh-place Utah was just 2.5 games behind the Nuggets, a half-game back of the sixth-place New Orleans Hornets, and one game behind fifth-place Portland.  

Utah has taken two of three games from the Nuggets already this season, but Denver has covered the spread in all three games. And all three meetings stayed under the totals.

Oddsmaker.com is listing the Cavs as -150 favorites to win the Eastern Conference title this spring, followed by the Celtics at +100, Magic at +600, and the Heat and Pistons at +2,500.

Out in the West, Oddsmaker is listing the Jazz, along with the Spurs, at +500 to take the conference crown, behind the Lakers at -280, and ahead of the Nuggets at +1,200.

And on Oddsmaker.com's updated NBA championship betting board, the Cavaliers are the second choice at +150, behind only the Lakers at +125. Those top two are followed by Boston at +200, San Antonio at +800, Utah at +1,000, Orlando and Houston at +1,200, and Denver and New Orleans at +2,500.

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