It’s not as big as Saints vs Colts odds are on Sunday, but on Friday, the top two teams in the NBA’s Western Conference will go at it at Staples Center as the Los Angele sLakers host the Denver Nuggets, who may still be missing their star.

Nuggets vs Lakers odds – Friday, February 5, 10:30 PM ET

The Nuggets have been without Carmelo Anthony for six games because of an ankle injury, going 4-2, and they’re coming off a disappointing 109-97 loss at home to Phoenix on Wednesday night. But it’s not all bad news for the Nuggets, as Chauncey Billups will replace the injured Chris Paul on the All-Star team. Billups will have to be at his best, as the Nuggets play in Los Angeles on Friday, and then Utah on Saturday.

It’s been a week of milestones for the Lakers, as Kobe Bryant broke the franchise scoring record in a loss at Memphis on Monday, and then Phil Jackson became the winningest coach in Lakers history in a win over Charlotte on Wednesday. Now, the Lakers can concentrate on a crazy stretch going into the break: home games against Denver and San Antonio, and road trips to Portland and Utah.

The Lakers should be favored at home, where the Nuggets have lost eight of their last 10. Denver isn’t nearly as good on the road as they are at home, and without all of their weapons on the floor, like Anthony, it’s not a smart play to go with Denver in an upset. Bet on the Los Angeles Lakers.

This year’s Super Bowl odds are directly related to the
potency of the two offenses, led by two MVP candidates, one of which won his
fourth award.

Indianapolis is powered by Peyton Manning, who is coming off
his fourth MVP, which is a record. His main weapons are Reggie Wayne and Dallas
Clark, but when they were taken away by the New York Jets, Manning made stars
out of Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie. Manning had one of his best seasons
without a running game, and everyone is wondering when the wheels will fall
off. Do you want to bet against Peyton Manning?

Drew Brees is the leader of the New Orleans unit, which was
ranked first for most of the year, but struggled a bit in the NFC championship
game against Minnesota. Brees has a ton of targets in Marques Colston, Devery
Henderson and Lance Moore, but Jeremy Shockey has been hurt, and Reggie Bush
didn’t do much against Minnesota after destroying Arizona. The Saints’ ground
game gets the edge with Pierre Thomas, but it’s not going to overpower anyone.

Super Bowl betting analysis: Manning has been out of his
mind this year, and he’s never panicked. He won’t be bothered by the big stage
of the Super Bowl, of which he won the MVP four years ago.

The Super Bowl is the biggest sports betting event of the year, so expect all of the casual football fans to come out of the woodwork.

Take a break from your online super casino betting and get in on some Super Bowl action, here is a preview of two players who could be x-factors in the big game.

New Orleans Saints X-Factor: Reggie Bush

The New Orleans Saints have a very talented offense with plenty of weapons. We all know about Drew Brees, we all know about Marques Colston and we all know about Jeremy Shockey.

But if there is one player that needs to step up and have a big game for the Saints it is running back Reggie Bush.

Bush isn’t a traditional running back and he’s much more of a factor as a receiver and a special teams weapon and that’s what the Saints need. If he can bust a few big plays and make a huge play in the return game, the Saints will have a huge leg up.

Indianapolis Colts X-Factor: Austin Collie

The Indianapolis Colts x-factor is a lesser known product from BYU: Austin Collie. Collie is a rookie wide receiver and Peyton Manning likes to find him in the red zone and in the end zone.

On the year, he finished with seven touchdowns and he was a huge factor in the AFC Championship Game.

The Saints will be focused on the Pro Bowlers Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark, and up-and-comer Pierre Garcon. Keep an eye on Collie to have a huge game.

Dirty Harry is ready to do some Super Bowl betting, and the matchup between Indianapolis and New Orleans has the potential to be a shootout, led by the teams’ potent pivots. Here’s a look at the combatants.

Saints vs Colts betting – Sunday, February 7, 6:20 PM ET

The Saints are powered by Drew Brees, the small but deadly accurate quarterback who made the Saints the No.1 offense in the league in the regular season. However, they had problems moving the ball against Minnesota in the second half of the NFC championship, and only five turnovers from the Vikings kept them in the game.

The Colts are led by four-time MVP Peyton Manning, who was also the Super Bowl MVP in the Colts’ win four years ago. Manning showed all of his talents in the AFC championship game, shaking off a slow start to led Indy to the last 24 points of the game.

Indy is a 5.5-point favorite in this contest, and their defense has the speed to keep up with the Saints, especially in the front seven. The secondary sometimes gives up big plays, and the Saints have plenty of playmakers, but Indy has the discipline to not let them run wild. Look for another Super Bowl MVP for Manning, as well.

Superbowl odds picks: Colts -5.5

The Super Bowl odds are set but for this week, the main focus is the Pro Bowl. For the first time, NFL Commissioner Roger Gooddell has changed the Pro Bowl from the week after the Super Bowl to the week prior to it and there has been plenty of grumbling.

For some silly reason, the NFL is forcing the players from the teams that are Super Bowl bound to show up at the Pro Bowl and make an appearance. It doesn’t make sense for them to be apart from their teams when they have such a big game coming up, but I digress.

For the actual matchup this year, you have to side with the NFC. They have won two straight contests and they will have the far better quarterback rotation this year.

The AFC will be without its top three starters as Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Philip Rivers will not be playing, which leaves Vince Young, David Garrard and Matt Schaub running the show. That’s not bad, but it’s not Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo and Donovan McNabb.

Quarterbacking is basically the only way to handicap the Pro Bowl and when you look at the rotations, it’s simple that the NFC has the edge.

Of note, keep in mind that this game will be in Miami instead of Hawaii.

Sportsbettin.com Review Pick: NFC -2

The Super Bowl odds are the main topic of conversation but the question which two teams will be there? In the AFC, the Indianapolis Colts are a heavy favorite, so it looks like they’ll be representing their conference where as the NFC is a much tighter tilt.

Minnesota Vikings @ New Orleans Saints

Bookmaker Odds (Bookmaker Review): Saints -3.5

The Minnesota Vikings could potentially be the more balanced team but they better figure out what’s wrong with Adrian Peterson. Dude has been chilling the last eight weeks of the season and doesn’t have a 100-yard rushing game in that time.

If the Vikings are to advance, it’s not going to be solely on the shoulder of Brett Favre. If they are to get to the Super Bowl, it’s going to be because Peterson shows up in the Championship game and finally does what we all know he’s capable of doing.

The Vikings defense is weaker than most people are willing to admit. In their last three road games, the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears hung numbers on this defense. Breaking news: the Saints are better than all of those teams.

The Vikings need to run it well and need to control the clock. Otherwise, this game smells like a blowout.

Super Bowl odds have Indianapolis as the favorites to win it all, while the New York Jets are the longshots. These two will meet in Sunday’s AFC championship game, and the Colts will have a gameplan to slow down the Jets.

The Colts are a 7.5-point favorite at home in this contest, and they’ll use the same gameplan that they used against Baltimore in their 20-3 win: stack the line. They refused to let running back Ray Rice beat them, and the Jets had 169 yards on the ground in their 17-14 upset win in San Diego. The Colts will put eight, maybe nine, players in the box and dare rookie Mark Sanchez to air it out. Sanchez had 20 picks in the regular season, including four games of three or more, and if the Jets have to air it out, they’re in trouble. Offensively, Peyton Manning has had success against New York coach Rex Ryan’s defenses when he was in Baltimore, and they’ll be tough, but the Indy offense has enough weapons to combat the Jets, particularly tight end Dallas Clark. Antonio Gates had a big day for San Diego, and the Colts will look at how the Chargers utilized him.

Bookmaker odds (bookmaker reviews) pick: Colts -7.5

The only thing bigger than Super Bowl odds right now is the Mark McGwire story, as the slugger finally admitted that he was taking steroids over the later part of his career. Does the apology matter?

I’m saying no, because, quite frankly, it took far too long for this to come out. Anyone with two eyes and a knowledge of the human body could see that McGwire was taking something. He says he was taking it to heal quicker from injuries, but he really hasn’t acknowledged that it had an effect on his play. That is a simply outlandish statement. Taking the steroids allowed McGwire to heal more, which allowed him to hit more homers. He also started hitting them more frequently, and longer, culminating in a 70-homer season in 1998. So to say that they didn’t affect his performance is, essentially, a lie.

Now, all that is needed is for guys like Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa to come clean with their admissions. In this day and age, I don’t think that it’s even a big deal anymore. Alex Rodriguez played like a guy without weight on his shoulders this season after he came clean, and it ended in a World Series ring. Someone should take that list and make some bookmaker odds (bookmaker reviews) for a prop.

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 _ lippers didn’t help themselves, shooting 55% from the line. This should be a closer game than before, but the Clippers are 5-10 on the road as of Tuesday, and West Coast teams have problems with the time change.

US sportsbook pick (US sportsbook reviews): New Orleans

Well, the Braylon Edwards saga is finally over in Cleveland, and bettors are obviously wondering how this impacts them at the sportsbook.

Edwards was shipped to the New York Jets this week on the heels of controversy; he was involved in some sort of fight or fracas at a nightclub and even drew the ire of local hero LeBron James. Given all the issues and headaches over the past few years, Cleveland isn’t going to miss the big wide out much—he’s only caught 10 passes this season—and the package of WR Chansi Stucky, LB Jason Trusnik and two draft picks adds some depth to a pretty bare cupboard in Cleveland.

More importantly, how does the addition impact the Jets, who are 3-1 and quickly establishing themselves as a major surprise team in the AFC? To be honest, probably not much.That probably sounds surprising since we’re talking about a big, strong, former first-round pick. Save for a 1289-yard, 16-touchdown season two years ago, however, Edwards has failed to live up to the hype and he’s indirectly cost people on NFL odds many times.

The Jets’ Mark Sanchez has made an impressive debut this season, and we’re betting management would be thrilled any time it can add a big, sure-handed receiver to help out its rookie starter. Unfortunately, Edwards only has one of those two things covered. The former Michigan Wolverine has a chronic case of the dropsies, something that won’t enamor him to Sanchez or the Jets’ faithful.

There’s no doubt Edwards will make some big plays, especially with the strong-armed Sanchez at the helm. But expecting him to duplicate that magical 2007 season is simply a stretch, at least this season (remember, Edwards is only 26 years old). If there’s an X-factor, it’s that the bitter receiver will be looking to stick it to his former team—and we all saw how that worked out for Brett Favre on Monday—and explodes. That’s unlikely given his slow start and playing with a rookie, but you never know in the NFL.

After last night’s Packers debacle, I’m not exactly eager to talk about NFL Week 5 odds. So, for now, good bye struggling Packers, hello struggling Leafs.

Toronto has opened the season 0-2 and, naturally, there’s panic in Leaf Land. Admittedly, some of the concerns are warranted—to a degree. First of all, get serious people—Toronto wasn’t expected to compete for Cup this season. The playoffs were (ARE) a possibility, though it’s going to take a lot of scratching and clawing to get there, and Toronto will only be an eighth-seed that’s quickly ousted.

As far as trouble spots are concerned… yes, the defense has looked bad. With a top four of Kaberle, Schenn, Beauchemin and Komisarek, Toronto was expected to shore up a once-porous defense. Yes, things have been incredibly leaky through two games, with the Leafs “D” constantly getting beat one-on-one, but that’s no reason to panic. These guys are only getting to know each other. Once they become more comfortable with one another, a lot of this slip ups and mistakes should disappear—especially the costly errors by Beauchemin and Komisarek, who seem to be pressing to make big plays in their first season as Leafs.

Here’s a real question for sportsbook fans: what can we expect from the goalie situation? Vesa Toskala admittedly looks finished, and the team announced Jonas “The Monster” Gustavsson will get his first career start tonight. I wasn’t enamored with the big, lanky Swede during his relief appearance against the Caps on Saturday—he looked awkward and out of position—but I’d be a hypocrite if I jumped the gone and doubted the guy after 40 minutes of hockey.

As for tonight’s game… an 0-3 start is a definite possibility. The visiting Ottawa Senators made some solid improvements last season and now field a pretty nice top-six. Of course, if the Leafs defensive corps can get things together, that might not matter.

I like Toronto if they can weather an early storm. The crowd will be loud and boisterous, and Beauchemin and Komisarek will probably come out a little too anxious again. If they can minimize their mistakes, though, and stay out of the box early, I expect the youngsters like Gustavsson and Viktor Stalberg to make their presence felt. If things do get out of hand, they’ll REALLY get out of hand and it’ll look like there’s a price per head on every Senator. The gloves will come off often.

Either way, if you’re an online sports betting fan I wouldn’t put money on this game, but it’s certainly worth watching for future reference.