The NBA All-Star teams have been divvied up, as LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo have made their captain picks. The format was changed to this a year ago and Team LeBron came away with the victory over Team Steph Curry. James hopes to keep his winning ways in this one and has put together a solid team.
The new format has gotten some rave reviews as opposed to the old division of conferences. The West would have dominated with the lopsided amount of talent and we will see if this becomes a more competitive contest.
The All-Star Game is going to be a back-and-forth of highlight dunks and long-range three-pointers until the final quarter. At that point we’ll see if the competitive juices kick in. It’s hard to peg odds on an All-Star Game but the talent distribution seems to favor Team LeBron in NBA gambling.
The All-Star Game will be held at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina at 8:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 17th, 2019. The game will be nationally televised on TNT.
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Odds Analysis
Team LeBron has a scary starting lineup. It features James, of course, as well as Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. All of them are elite scorers and the talent on hand is ridiculous. The bench includes Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard and Ben Simmons, among others.
Team Giannis has Antetokounmpo as well as Joel Embiid, Paul George, Stephen Curry and Kemba Walker. There are some great players there, and Curry is liable to take over and score 40 points in this game if he shoots a lot, but Team LeBron clearly has the better starters. Team Giannis’ bench includes Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, Kyle Lowry and Nikola Jokic.
While the new guard is trying to take over the NBA, James is still listed as the favorite to win the MVP of the All-Star Game with odds of +301. Antetokounmpo comes in next at +553 odds, followed by Curry at +659, Walker at +750 and Durant at +756. Embiid has the sixth-best odds at +868 but it’s hard for centers to take over the game so that is an interesting choice by the oddsmakers.
James won the MVP a year ago, his third such All-Star Game award. Davis and Westbrook are also among the recent MVPs. Harden has +1234 odds despite the fact that he leads the NBA in scoring and is filling up the bucket at a rate not seen in three decades.
Team LeBron won last year’s game by a score of 148-145. Those numbers seem high, but it was a far cry from the previous year’s score of 192-182. It’s preferable to see at least a little but of defense in these games, so hopefully the message got through from last year.
Free NBA ATS Picks
The All-Star game is always a great time to check out the NBA’s best players together in one place. Even though there are superstars dotted throughout both rosters, the cream of the crop rises in these games. Curry should have a great game for Team Giannis but in the end there is too much talent on Team LeBron. Look for players like James, Durant and Harden to score at will.
Team LeBron is the team to pick for the second year in a row. Check to see where the scoring total comes in for this one. The scoring should tick up from last year but not quite reach the heights they hit in 2017. The regular season is on break but the game’s big stars are still on display, and there are ways to gamble on this game, from the winner to the MVP in NBA betting lines.
NBA ATS Pick: Team LeBron 164, Team Giannis 157
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