This season, maybe more than ever because of the condensed schedule, has been a nightmare for teams and online sports betting enthusiasts because injuries have forced both to adjust their thinking.
The injury to Al Horford has had the Atlanta Hawks scrambling for back-up centers. Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo have been banged up for Boston and Derrick Rose has missed more games this year than he had in his other NBA seasons combined.
To evaluate injuries, online sports players must look at the depth chart of teams and scrutinize which clubs will be hurt because they have a weak bench.
For the Hawks, they were exposed as a thin team down low. For the Celtics, age is an issue and when your coach, Doc Rivers, references Jurassic Park, you know you are old.
For the league leading Bulls, their depth has really been a godsend. Besides the betting sites concern about Rose, new acquisition Rip Hamilton has not been 100% all year but other guys have stepped up.
C.J. Watson and John Lucas III have stepped up at the point to help Chicago along with Ronnie Brewer and Omer Asik.
The Bulls opened the season winning 23 of 30 games but more importantly covered 18 of those 30.
Cleveland was playing much better than most people expected but they will be hurt on the court and in the betting arena with a couple of key losses. Anthony Parker has a bad back and is out for awhile while Anderson Varejao, who could be the highest energy guy in the league, is out indefinitely with a broken wrist.
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This team will struggle against the spread the rest of the season.
The Los Angeles Clippers lost a quality player in Chauncey Billups for the season but they have adjusted. Mo Williams and Eric Bledsoe have stepped in and done nice jobs and they picked up free agent Kenyon Martin, who gives them another stout defender in the point.
The Clippers are also close to signing J.R. Smith, who has plenty of upside and he tore up the Chinese league this year averaging 34 a game.
Memphis played well in the playoffs last year but really have missed Zach Randolph. Rudy Gay has come along and played well but these are two completely different players. They have struggled as evidenced by their 13-15 record against the spread to start the season.
The Milwaukee Bucks are a defensive team but they have suffered greatly when they lost their best player Andrew Bogut with a broken ankle. On top of that, they have a shoot first point guard in Brandon Jennings and although Drew Gooden has played well coming in for Bogut, but he is undersized just about every night.
The bottom line, the Bucks only covered 12 of their first 28 games this season.
After having the best record in the league last year, the San Antonio Spurs faltered in the spring but they are again off to a great start despite losing arguably their best player, Manu Ginobili, for a series of games. He is back now and the players that came in for him when he was gone will greatly be helped as the season continues.
You would expect a veteran team not to panic, and the Spurs have not covering 17 of their first 29 games.
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