NBA Internet Betting – A Trio Of Game 6s Highlight Thursday’s Schedule

Online betting players who are following the NBA playoffs should have a great night on Thursday, as there are three Game 6s on the slate, which means three teams will be aiming to stave off elimination. We’re going with the two-time defending champions to rid of their pesky opponents, but two series will end up going to a Game 7.

Magic Hawks Betting – Thursday, 7:30 PM ET

The Hawks will likely be the NBA betting favorites at home in Game 6 as they won Games 3 and 4 at Philips Arena, albeit by a combined seven points. In Game 5 on Tuesday, the Magic played like a team who didn’t want to go home as they rolled to a 101-76 rout, and their long-range shooting finally broke out as Orlando hit 11 of their 26 three-point attempts. At their best, the Magic just throw Dwight Howard in the middle and put a bunch of shooters around him, but Howard only played 29 minutes in Game 5 because of foul trouble and finished with eight points and eight boards, easily his worst game of the series. J.J. Redick and Ryan Anderson combined for 25 points, and the Magic had someone to counter Jamal Crawford off the bench. The Magic also did a great job on Crawford, who had only eight points.

This looked like the four-game romp by Orlando from last season, and now it’s a test of Atlanta’s mental toughness. They had a chance to close it out and fell flat on their face, although that was at home. But the Magic destroyed them in Atlanta last year as well, and we’re just not ready to give the Hawks the series yet.

Betting Edge: Orlando Magic

Lakers Hornets Betting – Thursday, 8:00 PM ET

The Lakers should be the NBA betting favorites on the road in New Orleans, where they earned a split in Games 3 and 4, and they’re coming off a total team effort in a 106-90 win at home in Game 5. Kobe Bryant shook off his ailing ankle with 19 points, including a couple of highlight-reel dunks, and he was one of six Lakers in double figures. The Lakers also won the battle in the paint, outscoring the Hornets 42-30 and outrebounding them 42-25, and that was a key area in which Los Angeles had a big advantage coming into the series. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol took control of the inside, and the Hornets have no answer for that duo. The Hornets didn’t get much outside of the trio of Chris Paul, Trevor Ariza and Marco Belinelli, who combined for 63 of the Hornets’ 90 points, and the gulf in class is starting to show.

We can’t see New Orleans surviving Game 6 at home, unless they get another Herculean effort from Paul, who is showing that, by definition, he may be the most valuable player in the league. Without Paul, the Hornets would be an awful, awful team over a full season, and they better do something soon to try and keep him, because he’s having this kind of series (24.4 points, 11.6 assists, 6.4 rebounds, 1.8 steals) and the Hornets are still losing? He can’t beat the Lakers by himself, and it’s going to be a long offseason in New Orleans.

Betting Edge: Los Angeles Lakers

Mavericks Trailblazers Betting – Thursday, 10:30 PM ET

The Trailblazers are 4.5-point NBA betting favorites at home, and the home team has won each game of this series so far. Game 6 could take a different tone after Game 5’s 93-82 win for the Trailblazers as Dallas’ Brian Cardinal set a crushing screen on Portland’s Patty Mills….with 18.2 seconds left on the clock. The Trailblazers were still trapping, so Cardinal thought he would free up some room for his teammate, and Portland wasn’t happy about it, but again, they were trapping and still playing like the game was in the balance, so what can you do if you’re the Mavericks? It was a physical affair that Dallas won on the boards as they outrebounded the Trailblazers 49-37, and Tyson Chandler had 20 rebounds for the Mavericks, and they need him to bring that same sort of energy if they’re going to overcome the Trailblazers.

However, we have to stick to the script and give the edge to Portland, who are a different team in front of their home fans, and they’ve also been getting more production from Brandon Roy at the Rose Garden. He could have one more bullet left in the chamber, and we don’t think Dallas has the metal fortitude to close out the series on the road, so Portland is the smart sports betting pick on Thursday.