NBA All-Star Saturday Night Betting News and Notes

NBA All-Star Props
By Bovada.lv

Who will win the NBA Sprite Slam-Dunk Contest?

James White (NYK) 5/4
Gerald Green (IND) 7/2
Terrence Ross (TOR) 4/1
Eric Bledsoe (LAC) 5/1
Jeremy Evans (UTA) 8/1
Kenneth Faried (DEN) 8/1

Who will win the NBA Foot Locker Three-Point Contest?

Stephen Curry (GS) 5/2
Steve Novak (NYK) 5/2
Kyrie Irving (CLE) 4/1
Ryan Anderson (NO) 4/1
Matt Bonner (SA) 5/1
Paul George (IND) 15/2

Who will win the NBA Taco Bell Skills Challenge?

Jrue Holiday (East) 3/1
Tony Parker (West) 7/2
Damian Lillard (West) 7/2
Jeremy Lin (West) 4/1
Brandon Knight (East) 11/2
Jeff Teague (East) 11/2

Who will win the NBA Sears Shooting Stars?

Team Harden (James Harden, Tina Thompson, Sam Cassell) 2/1
Team Westbrook (Russell Westbrook, Maya Moore, Robert Horry) 2/1
Team Bosh (Chris Bosh, Swin Cash, Dominique Wilkins) 5/2
Team Lopez (Brook Lopez, Tamika Catchings, Muggsy Bogues) 3/1

Odds to win the 2013 BBVA Rising Stars Challenge Most Valuable Player

Damian Lillard (Team Shaq) 13/2
Kyrie Irving (Team Shaq) 7/1
Kenneth Faried (Team Chuck) 8/1
Kemba Walker (Team Shaq) 9/1
Klay Thompson (Team Shaq) 9/1
Anthony Davis (Team Chuck) 12/1
Ricky Rubio (Team Chuck) 12/1
Brandon Knight (Team Chuck) 14/1
Chandler Parsons (Team Shaq) 16/1
Dion Waiters (Team Shaq) 16/1
Tristan Thompson (Team Chuck) 18/1
Bradley Beal (Team Chuck) 18/1
Kawhi Leonard (Team Chuck) 18/1
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (Team Shaq) 18/1
Isaiah Thomas (Team Chuck) 18/1
Tyler Zeller (Team Shaq) 20/1
Harrison Barnes (Team Shaq) 20/1
Nikola Vucevic (Team Chuck) 20/1
Alexey Shved (Team Chuck) 20/1
Andrew Nicholson (Team Shaq) 20/1

Who will score the first in the 2013 All Star Celebrity Game?

Usain Bolt 4/1
Kevin Hart 9/2
Common 9/2
Josh Hutcherson 11/2
Nick Cannon 13/2
Ne-Yo 7/1
Trey Songz 7/1
Terrence Jenkins 10/1
John Schriffen 10/1
Ryen Russillo 15/1
Arne Duncan 15/1

Odds to win the 2013 NBA All Star Game Most Valuable Player

Kevin Durant (West) 13/2
LeBron James (East) 7/1
Kobe Bryant (West) 15/2
Blake Griffin (West) 15/2
Carmelo Anthony (East) 9/1
Dwyane Wade (East) 9/1
Chris Paul (West) 12/1
James Harden (West) 14/1
Kyrie Irving (East) 15/1
Dwight Howard (West) 16/1
Russell Westbrook (West) 18/1
Kevin Garnett (East) 20/1
Tony Parker (West) 20/1
Jrue Holiday (East) 25/1
Brook Lopez (East) 25/1
LaMarcus Aldridge (West) 25/1
Chris Bosh (East) 30/1
Paul George (East) 35/1
Zach Randolph (West) 35/1
David Lee (West) 45/1
Luol Deng (East) 45/1
Tyson Chandler (East) 50/1
Joakim Noah (East) 50/1
Tim Duncan (West) 60/1

Bet The NBA All-Star Game

NBA 3-Point Contest Preview
By Sportsbook.ag

Kyrie Irving (3/1)

Irving is certainly the biggest name of this event, averaging a whopping 24.0 points per game this season, which is the sixth-highest rate in the NBA through Sunday. He's also made 42.9 percent of his three-point tries this season, tying him for 11th in the league. This is quite an improvement from his rookie year when he shot 39.9 percent from behind the arc. Irving has never played at Toyota Center, but his three-point shooting clip on the road this season (38.1 percent) is considerably lower than what he shoots at his home court at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland (48.8 percent). The one positive for Irving is that he enters this contest red-hot, making 18-of-31 threes (58.1 percent) during an eight-game stretch from Jan. 25 to Feb. 9.

Matt Bonner (5/1)

At 6-foot-10, Bonner is hoping to do what fellow Kevin Love, also standing 6-foot-10, did last season when he became the second tallest three-point shootout champion behind 7-footer Dirk Nowitzki. Bonner has the lowest scoring average (4.2 points per game) among all the participants this season, but that could work in his favor because he's a true three-point specialist. Through Sunday, 64 percent of Bonner's field-goal attempts have come from three-point range over the past three seasons, and he has drained 247 of these 562 tries (44.0 percent). He is also very familiar with Toyota Center, playing within the same division as Houston in the past seven seasons, and has knocked down 14-of-35 threes (40.0 percent) in his career at Toyota Center. Through Sunday, Bonner ranked second in the NBA in three-point FG Pct. (45.1 percent), trailing only Atlanta's Kyle Korver (46.4 percent), who is not participating in this event.

Paul George (5/1)

George is in the midst of a career season, deservedly making the Eastern Conference All-Star team with 17.8 points per game. Through Sunday, he is converting a career-best (but contest participant-low) 39.1% of his three-point shots, which includes a 13-of-27 clip from February 4-8. However, George has never made a three-pointer in a game at Toyota Center, missing all three of his long-range attempts in Houston last season. And in terms of accuracy on the road, George has been dreadful this season, making just 29.5 percent of his three-point attempts outside of Indiana.

Ryan Anderson (4/1)

Anderson participated in last year's event and after putting up an air ball on his first shot, he started to heat up, finishing with a respectable 17 points and barely missing out on a spot in the finals due to missed opportunities on his final rack. Through Sunday, Anderson was shooting a career-high 39.8 percent from three-point range for the season. From Jan. 27 to Feb. 10, Anderson nailed 25-of-56 threes, good for 44.6 percent. He hasn't played much in Houston, but over five career games at Toyota Center, he's made a paltry 8-of-31 three-point tries (25.8 percent). However, Anderson leads the NBA with 152 made three-pointers through Sunday, and as one of only two shooters that has ever been in this event, he certainly has an advantage over the four first-timers.

Stephen Curry (5/2)

This season's favorite participated in the three-point shootout as a rookie in 2010, finishing as the runner up to champion Paul Pierce. Curry had the best first-round score among the six contestants with 18, and nearly matched that score in the finals with 17 points, but Pierce bested him with a final-round score of 20. Curry missed four games in January after rolling his surgically repaired ankle, but started off February making 14-of-34 threes (41.2 percent) in his first five games of the month. However he was just 1-for-5 from downtown in a loss at Houston on Feb. 5, dropping him to 5-for-15 on three-pointers in four career games at Toyota Center. As of Sunday, Curry ranked third in the NBA in three-point attempts (328), second in made threes (147) and third in percentage (44.8 percent).

Steve Novak (3/1)

Another first-time participant, Novak scores just 6.9 points per game, but like Matt Bonner, Novak knows that he earns his paycheck by shooting from long range. He has launched 263 field goals (through Sunday), and 211 of those, or 80.2 percent, have been from three-point range. In the past three seasons (through Sunday), Novak has been lights-out from behind the arc, making 252-of-539 attempts (46.8 percent). He also has an advantage in this contest since he played with the Houston Rockets in his first two NBA seasons and therefore is most familiar with Toyota Center. He has shot a blistering 47.8 percent (44-for-92) from behind the arc at Houston's home arena in his career.

NBA Slam Dunk Contest Preview
By Sportsbook.ag

Eric Bledsoe (9/2)

The Clippers’ back-up point guard to Chris Paul, Bledsoe got a lot of minutes as a starter while Paul was sidelined with an injury for nearly three weeks before returning last Friday. Although Bledsoe is only 6-foot-1, he clearly has hops, as is evident by the fact that he ranks second on the Clippers in blocks to 6-foot-11 DeAndre Jordan, and that’s despite the fact that Bledsoe ranks seventh on the team in minutes played. With fans doing the voting, Bledsoe’s relative lack of height—he’s five inches shorter than the next-shortest participant, Toronto’s Terrence Ross—could be a huge advantage as he looks to follow in the smallish footsteps of such past winners as Spud Webb, Dee Brown and three-time champion Nate Robinson.

Gerald Green (4/1)

One of two prior Slam Dunk champions in this year’s competition along with 2012 winner Jeremy Evans, Green beat out such dunk luminaries as Nate Robinson and Dwight Howard to win the 2007 title when he was a member of the Celtics. He should’ve won in 2008 when he was with Minnesota—his dunk that year when he blew out the candle on a cupcake sitting on the back of the rim before throwing down a vicious left-hander was arguably one of the greatest dunks of all time—but he was ultimately overshadowed by Dwight Howard's far-less-difficult but more flashy "Superman" dunk. Green is from Houston, so he’ll get to perform in front of his hometown crowd.

James White (8/5)

The 30-year-old White may be past his dunking prime as the oldest participant in this year’s contest, but he has experience on his side despite never before competing in an NBA All-Star Weekend Slam Dunk contest. Not only did he finish second in both 2002 McDonald’s All-American and 2006 NCAA slam-dunk events, but won a 2009 D-League Dunk Contest and dominated overseas contests when he played in Turkey (2008, on a ridiculous windmill dunk on which he took off from behind the free-throw line), Russia (2010, where he beat Gerald Green) and Italy (2011). All that experience is the reason he’s the favorite, perhaps in addition to the fact that he’s already gone on record as saying that he has a number of dunks worthy of a perfect score in this year’s contest.

Jeremy Evans (5/1)

Evans won last year’s event despite the fact that he didn’t join the field until three days prior to the competition after the Knicks’ Iman Shumpert was ruled out because of injury. Because he was arguably the most athletic among a group last year that included Paul George, Derrick Williams and Chase Budinger, he was StatFox’s pick to win at 11-to-4 despite not being favored. (Evans entered last year’s contest with 61 of his 88 made shots over his first two NBA seasons having been on dunks, including 30 on alley-oops—his 69.3% dunk percentage was the NBA’s highest since he’d entered the league.) This year’s group is not only larger and deeper, but more athletic and diverse than last year’s. Evans will have his work cut out for him as he tries to join Michael Jordan, Jason Richardson and Nate Robinson as only the fourth player to win the Slam Dunk contest in back-to-back years.

Kenneth Faried (5/1)

Faried’s dunking tends to be more ferocious than stylish, as his nickname “Manimal” would attest to. There have been rumors circulating that he’s thinking about playing to his strength—which is his strength—and dunking a bowling ball in this year’s contest. While such a move would certainly get people’s attention, nothing has been confirmed as of yet, and you’ve got to believe that the Nuggets may dissuade Faried from going that route due to the potential for injury. There’s also the case of whether the folks who maintain the floor in Houston will want to risk having a Bugs Bunny moment and watching a bowling ball dent their floor, if not go straight through it.

Terrence Ross (4/1)

Ross will try to become the first Raptor since Vince Carter in 2000 to win the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. He’ll be the third Raptor to attempt the feat in the past six years —Jamario Moon competed in 2008 and DeMar DeRozan did so in both 2010 and 2011—and will aim to become the first rookie since Josh Smith in 2005 to win the competition. Ross played college ball at the University of Washington, which is where Nate Robinson also played, so it’s possible that the three-time champion could give his fellow alum some insight and advice. (Robinson is the only former University of Washington player ever to compete in the dunk contest.) Ross did sport an impressive vertical leap of 37.5 inches at last year’s draft combine, which reportedly puts him in the top 1 percent of the NBA.