Sports betting news and advice.

The Golden State Warriors are off to their best home start in 20 years. On Friday, they will host the Utah Jazz – a team that has dominated them in their last two home meetings.

The Jazz are 2.5-point favorites in NBA betting lines while the over/under currently sits at 222.5.

The Golden State Warriors (3-1, 3-0 home) were held under 100 points at home just eight times last season. Two of them came in losses to the Jazz in which they didn’t even score 95 points.

The last time the Warriors opened up the season with three straight home wins came back in 1990-91 when they won their first six. They are 3-1 through four games for the first time since 2005-06.

The Warriors’ season has largely been a success thus far thanks to the strong play of Monta Ellis. The shooting guard opened up the season by scoring 46 points in a win over Houston. He followed that up by dishing out 11 assists in a blowout over the Los Angeles Clippers. His best all-around game came Wednesday night against Memphis. He had 39 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and three steals in a 115-109 win. He currently leads the league with 30.0 points per game scoring average.

The Utah Jazz (2-2, 1-1 away) are hoping to hand the Warriors their first home loss of the season. The Jazz are coming off of consecutive wins over Oklahoma City and Toronto after dropping their first two games.

Al Jefferson, who was acquired by the Jazz in the offseason, has played very well after a poor debut. He has averaged 23.3 points per game after scoring just six in the first game of the season.

In their first seven NBA seasons, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade developed reputations as two of basketball’s best offensive weapons. Defense, though, has been the key to their success since joining forces on the Miami Heat. The Heat look to maintain their stifling defense Tuesday when the Minnesota Timberwolves come to town.

Miami (3-1) has not given up more than 88 points through four games of the season. They are allowing a league-low 80.8 points per game and have not allowed a field goal to an opposing starting power forward in the last two games.

After a shaky offensive start to the season, the superstar trio of James, Wade, and Chris Bosh is closing in on a successful balance. In Sunday’s 101-78 win over New Jersey, James led the way with 20 points while Bosh and Wade added 18 and 17 points respectively.

Michael Beasley will return to Miami after being traded by the Heat to the Timberwolves in the offseason. Beasley spent his first two seasons on the Heat after they made him the number two overall selection of the 2008 NBA Draft. He posted career highs of 14.8 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game last season and hoped to play alongside Wade, James, and Bosh. But now he is focused on helping the Timberwolves improve on a disastrous 2009-10 season, leading the way with a team-high 14.7 points per game average.

Beasley’s teammate Kevin Love will look to continue his strong start. The power forward is averaging 14 points per game and leads the team in rebounds at 14 per game. Even more impressive is that Love has put up such terrific stats in just 25 minutes per game.

Uncertainty is the offseason theme for the Boston Celtics as they will likely either be very much the same team as last season or radically different.

Head Coach Doc Rivers has long been rumored to be quitting his job with one year left on his contract in order to spend more time with his family. While just a rumor, Rivers has said a number of things publicly to substantiate the idea.

Rivers has three children including one who is in his senior year with the Illinois basketball program. His other two are both heavily involved in high school or college athletics too. If he is going to take a year off to be able to see his kids play, this pretty much is the last year he can do it for all three.

Associate head coach Tom Thibodeau is already gone. He accepted a head coaching position with the Chicago Bulls. If Rivers leaves too, that means the Celtics will have a radically different coaching regime next season.

Those changes at the top could prompt Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to leave too. Allen is a free agent and Pierce has the option to terminate his contract one year early. After playing in Rivers’ and Thibodeau’s system for years, they may both decide it is better to take another crack at a cup elsewhere.

Both players are in the twilights of their careers and playing a year for Boston while they try to work out a new system might seem like a waste of their fading talents when they could be that last piece for a team that is on the brink of success.

It will be an intersting summer for Celtics fans as the team could go in to full rebuild mode, or they could just end up tweaking the team to get that extra little they need to be champions.

How did Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics go from a shooting hero who couldn’t miss in Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs Championship Final, to a dead weight on the court in Game 3?

The answer is partly found in the play of the Los Angeles Lakers, but there was more going on on the court than just the Lakers d stepping up.

Full Celtics vs Lakers Game 4 preview.

After taking a lot of criticism for his play against the Los Angeles Lakers in LA, Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns had an inspired Game 3 picking up 42 points and was also a force on the defensive end of the court. The Suns were able to win without having the advantage from three-point range and from the bench.

The Phoenix Suns hope their excellent home record from the regular season translates in to playoff home wins as they host the Los Angeles Lakers down 2-0 in their Western Conference Final. Tip is Sunday, May 22, 2010 at 8:30 ET on TNT.

Through two games, the Los Angeles Lakers have pretty much done whatever they felt like. Game 1, Kobe Bryant stole the show putting up 40 points while daring the Suns to stop him. In Game 2, Kobe started dishing letting the Lakers perimeter weapons do the damage in the first half, before shining the spotlight on their big men in the second half.

The best indication of how effortless their offense has been is their 57.9 shooting percentage. The Suns just can’t match up against Kobe’s talent and the rest of the Lakers size and length.

C Pau Gasol had 29 big points in Game 2 after a 21 point Game 1 performance and has 13 rebounds and four blocks through two games. The Lakers bench has outperformed a very talented Suns bench.

The Lakers have three-straight SU and ATS wins on the road and would love to get stretch that to five and give their various ailments time to heal.

The Phoenix Suns are the toughest team to beat on home court with 36-10 SU and 29-16-1 ATS record this season. They are 4-1 both SU and ATS at home in the playoffs.

Steve Nash has had trouble adjusting to the Lakers length which has really limited his ability to distribute the ball and make plays.

Most of Phoenix’s scoring in Game 2 came from Grant Hill, Amare Stoudemire and Jason Richardson who combined for 68 points.

The Suns now have just one SU and ATS victory in six meetings with the so far in the regular season and playoffs.

Kobe Bryant and the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers get set to host Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns in Game 1 of their NBA Playoffs Western Conference final at 9 PM ET on TNT.

Both teams have had a lengthy layoff after sweeping their semifinal series.

The Suns last saw action on May 9 in their 107-101 road win over the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers will have to get by on one less day of rest after dispatching the Utah Jazz 11-96 in Utah on May 10.

The Phoenix Suns dropped their first game of the playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers, but have been money since winning eight of nine both SU and ATS. They are on a six game winning streak and they’ve won their last three as road dogs.

The unlikely hero through all of this has been Jason Richardson who leads the Suns in scoring with 21.9 points per game. A 42 point effort in Game 3 against Portland went a long way to padding those totals. Richardson’s three-point shooting makes this Suns team very hard to defend with Nash and Amar’e Stoudamire collapsing defenses with their pick and rolls before punching the ball out to their money-shooters.

As important as Richardson’s points are for the Suns, this offense is run by Steve Nash. Nash is averaging nine assists in the playoffs and he proved his leadership meddle in Game 4 versus the San Antonio Spurs when he led the team with clutch offense with one eye swollen shut.

Nash works with Stoudemire who uses his size and speed to get to the basket and create offense off of the pick and roll. Stoudemire is averaging 20.5 points and leads the team with 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.

The Suns have the top offense in points scored at 110.2 and lead the playoffs in field goals at 49.2 percent and three-point shooting at 41.2 percent.

The Los Angeles Lakers have a major size advantage which could cause some match-up problems for the diminutive Suns, but injuries could eliminate that advantage.

Kobe Bryant hasn’t been practicing as a precaution after having his right knee drained of fluid, but he’s expected to be ready to go. More worrying is the status of big man Andrew Bynum who, despite a week worth of rest, has swelling in his knee that is getting worse. LAs other big man Pau Gasol is recovering from a sinus infection but will be good to go.

Losing any one of these players would make the power-house Lakers a much easier match-up for Phoenix.

Kobe leads the team with 26.9 points and 4.9 assists per game. Gasol leads the team with 13.1 rebounds while opposing offenses need to account for Bynum who is averaging two blocks.

If healthy, the Lakers match up well with the Suns’ dynamic offense. They are bigger, but also have better reach which will go a long way to helping them defend against Phoenix’s speed.

LA took three of four head-to-head meetings this season, but they haven’t met since March and the Suns have been the leagues hottest team since their last meeting.