It’s indeed a great day to watch the NBA as players and coaches alike entertain sports betting fans with thrilling games and some off-court rants!
The Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets continue to delight betting websites with their rise in the West, while the East online gambling juggernauts, Toronto Raptors, finally slip up.
And as we have seen for the most part of the season, another coach was fined for criticising the referees and their poor officiating!
Portland and Houston taking off!
Thirteen in a row! There’s just no stopping the Blazers right now as they blasted the LA Clippers to tie their second-longest winning streak in franchise history.
The last time they did it was over a decade ago, with the legendary Brandon Roy-led Portland winning 13 straight back in 2007.
Portland remain third in the West standings, but they are undoubtedly establishing themselves as dark horses who could well threaten the Golden State Warriors.
Meanwhile, Houston are also pulling away from Golden State for the West top seed. They have won five straight and have only lost once in their last 22 games, when the Raptors snap their 17-game winning streak!
James Harden had another double-double performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves with 34 points and 12 assists to put beyond any doubt that he’s the deserving MVP this year.
Who you gonna call? Streak busters!
Speaking of the Raptors snapping the Rockets’ winning streak last week, the team got a taste of their own medicine against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Raptors’ attempt at a new franchise record of 12 straight wins ended in vain (and in controversial fashion) in the closing seconds of their match with the Thunder.
They let their emotions get the better of them and it ended up with coach Dwane Casey, DeMar DeRozan and Serge Ibaka being ejected with 8.1 seconds left.
Oklahoma, in contrast, took advantage and scored the last seven points as they won 132-125—the Raps went scoreless in the final minute.
Russell Westbrook sparked the OKC charge with 37 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds, his 102nd career triple-double.
It’s a fine time (again)
New Orleans Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry didn’t hold back when criticising the referees following their loss to the Rockets yesterday.
Among Gentry’s complaints was a foul called on Jrue Holiday midway through the fourth quarter. That call was so controversial that everyone in the Smoothie King Center went into a frenzy, while Gentry earned a technical for arguing.
He also pointed that Anthony Davis is not getting the same type of calls as any other stars in the league.
However, with his public criticism of officiating, the NBA decided to fine him $15,000.
Meanwhile, Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy was also punished for what he called as poor officiating in their loss to Portland.
These all came just a couple of days after LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers was fined the same amount for the same reason. Oh, and it also happened against the Rockets!
Indeed, all is not right between NBA players, coaches and the referees. What else is new? Though, there will certainly be major discussions about it in the off-season.
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