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The trading deadline has come and gone. Now the drive to the NBA playoffs can begin in earnest. The usual suspects (Cleveland, Boston, Dallas) have taken on extra talent, risking their future for a better chance at winning now. It's a strategy that's doomed to fail for at least two of those teams. The futures market says it'll be the Cavaliers (2-3 in the East) advancing to the Finals to meet the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers (8-13 in the West), finally giving us that epic showdown between LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. We shall see.

James and his teammates have a rare weekend off, but we'll check in on the other three title contenders in our weekend betting preview.

Saturday: New Jersey at Boston (1:00 p.m. ET, YES)

The NBA odds have not been on Boston's side this year. The Celtics (36-19 SU, 21-33-1 ATS) have won four of their five games since the All-Star break, but they continue to bleed green, going 2-3 ATS to fall even deeper into debt. Perhaps things will change now that Nate Robinson has made the move from New York. Robinson missed his first three games as a Celtic with a stomach virus, then made his debut Tuesday against his former team, playing 16 uneventful minutes off the bench in a 110-106 win over the Knicks (+9.5). So much for change.

Boston had to face the Knicks without Paul Pierce (20.3 points, 5.2 rebounds per 40 minutes) due to a thumb injury. The Associated Press reports that Pierce will also miss Thursday's matchup against Cleveland, but he could be back in time for Saturday. Not that the Celtics should have any trouble beating the Nets, who remain on pace for a historically bad season at 5-52 SU and 21-35-1 ATS. New Jersey has dropped the cash in three straight games after going on a tasty 8-2-1 ATS run – which included a 96-87 loss at Boston (-12.5). Pierce missed that game, as well.

Sunday: Denver at L.A. Lakers (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC)

We're just about ready to close the curtain on the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The administrative and climactic hurdles have already been forgotten about; now the public eye is focused on the Games themselves, and who will snap up those last remaining gold medals. The United States and Germany are in a tight battle for first place in the overall medal count, and the fight for gold is even closer with Norway, Canada and Switzerland joining the fray.

This has already been a tremendous Olympics for Team USA. When the Olympic futures market opened, it was Germany at even money to claim the most gold medals, followed by the Canadians at 5-2 and the States in third at 7-2. But the precious metal keeps pouring in for Team USA. Bode Miller (men's combined) and Lindsey Vonn (women's downhill) each took home Alpine skiing gold. Evan Lysacek performed his own Miracle on Ice against Russia's Evgeni Plushenko in men's figure skating – Plushenko was in first place and heavily favored at 2-3 going into the free skate. And there could be more gold on the way.

Canada is also expecting to add to its gold count. Here's how the host nation was priced at the open of the Olympic betting odds:
0-5 gold: 37-20
6-9 gold: 5-6
10 or more gold: 19-10

The top two teams in the Western Conference are at it again. The Lakers (43-15 SU, 25-31-2 ATS) have played 12 of their last 17 games on the road, going 11-6 SU and 7-9-1 ATS over the past month. Kobe Bryant (29.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists/40) missed five of those games with a sore ankle before returning on Tuesday, giving the Lakers a virtually full roster. This has become one of the very best defensive teams in the league with Bryant and Ron Artest, but the offense has tailed off somewhat, leaving the UNDER at 31-26-1 on the season and 9-3 since late January.

One of those rare OVER results came in L.A.'s last game against the Nuggets (37-19 SU, 26-27-3 ATS), a 126-113 Denver victory at Staples Center that easily eclipsed the posted total of 199.5 points. The Nuggets were 8-point puppies in that contest and playing without Carmelo Anthony (30.7 points, 6.7 rebounds/40). The Lakers were blown out even worse back in November at the Pepsi Center, losing 105-79 as 4-point underdogs.

Sunday: New Orleans at Dallas (9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)

The Mavericks (37-21 SU, 24-34 ATS) made one of the biggest splashes at the trade deadline by landing Caron Butler (17.1 points, 6.7 rebounds/40) and Brendan Haywood (12.1 points, 12.7 boards/40) in a deal with the Washington Wizards. It cost them four players including Josh Howard, but the immediate upside is that Haywood is now in Big D to give the Mavs some shot-blocking prowess. The results speak for themselves: Dallas is 5-0 SU and 3-2 ATS since Haywood joined the starting rotation in place of the injured Erick Dampier (finger). The Mavs even beat the Lakers (+1.5 road dogs) 101-96 on Wednesday with Butler sidelined because of a “reaction to medication.”

Butler is expected back in time to face the Hornets (30-28 SU, 29-29 ATS) on Sunday. The Hornets are 5-7 SU and 7-5 ATS since losing Chris Paul to a knee injury; Darren Collison (17.5 points, 7.9 assists/40) has stepped into the breach and performed very well for a rookie point guard. New Orleans still finds itself three games out of a playoff spot in the West, but at least the Hornets are 2-0 ATS against the Mavs this year, splitting a pair home and away.

Canada has already made it into the second category, racking up gold in freestyle skiing (Alexandre Bilodeau, Ashleigh McIvor) and the two-woman bobsleigh (Kaillie Humphries, Heather Moyse) among others. But the “10 or more” category is within reach. Canada's women's curling team is 11-10 to beat Sweden (5-1) in Friday's gold-medal game starting at 6:00 p.m. ET. And the men's team was 2-5 to take gold even as they went into Thursday's semifinal against Sweden, a semifinal that Canada (-550) won 6-3. The men's final is Saturday at 6:00 p.m.

The gold medal Canadians want the most, though, is in men's hockey. And it looks like they'll be in a rematch at the final with Team USA, who beat Canada 5-3 as 1.5-goal underdogs (-125). There was much gnashing of teeth among the locals after that game, but Canada is back in their good graces after switching goalies from Martin Brodeur to Roberto Luongo and trouncing Russia (+0.5, -135) in a 7-3 quarterfinal laugher. Canada is now pegged at 1-2 to win gold, followed by Team USA at 5-2, Finland at 6-1 and Slovakia at 12-1.

United States vs. Finland (3:00 p.m. ET)
The Americans proved that history repeats itself by dropping the cash to Switzerland (+2.5, +110) in the quarterfinals, just as they did in the preliminaries. Zach Parise finally broke a scoreless tie with a power-play goal in the third period, then added an empty-netter for a 2-0 victory. Finland took the same path to the semis with a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic (third-period power-play goal, empty-netter), but covered as half-goal favorites at +140. The Czechs, however much they've slipped in recent years, still play at a level above the Swiss. The U.S. roster is young and prone to inconsistency. Finland has a real chance at winning this game; otherwise, they're looking at bronze.

Canada vs. Slovakia (9:30 p.m. ET)
That's assuming Canada can get past Slovakia, which itself isn't a foregone conclusion. Even accounting for Brodeur's puckhandling errors against the United States, the Canadians (-5.5, +130) needed a shootout to beat Switzerland 3-2 in the preliminaries with Luongo in net. That cost them a point in the standings and ultimately forced them to play an extra game (against Germany) just to get into the quarterfinals. This is a very talented Canadian team that has gotten better as the tournament rolls on and the players get familiar with one another. It'll take that level of cohesion and effort to put away the Slovaks. They earned their place here with a stunning 4-3 victory over the defending gold medalists from Sweden (-1.5, +115), and they beat Russia (-2.5, -130) in a 2-1 shootout final at the preliminaries. These things will happen when you put Jaroslav Halak in goal.

Slovakia may have betting value as the underdog in this matchup, but we foresee Canada advancing to the gold medal game and beating the valiant Americans. Make sure to check Bodog Sports for the latest odds on these games and the rest of the Winter Olympics.

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