PinnacleSports.com Releases NBA MVP Odds

20 Apr 2005

WILLEMSTAD, Curacao, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- With the NBA regular season coming to an end this evening, fans everywhere want to know who will win the league's most coveted awards. Although a number of players have had outstanding seasons, the races to win the NBA's Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards both appear to be between just two worthy candidates. The Internet's largest sports betting site, PinnacleSports.com today released odds on which players would be named the 2005 NBA MVP and Rookie of the Year.

In the MVP race, PinnacleSports.com considers two players that changed teams in the off-season as the clear frontrunners to be named the league's best player. Miami center Shaquille O'Neal is an overwhelming favorite to win the MVP at 1/2 odds after propelling the Heat to the best record in the Eastern Conference and first seed in the conference playoffs. Bettors have certainly jumped on "the Big Diesel's" MVP bandwagon, with nearly 65 percent of all money wagered placed on O'Neal so far. The only serious threat to Shaq for MVP is Phoenix point guard Steve Nash (6/5), who has led the Suns to a 60- plus win season and the league's best regular season record. Former league MVP Allen Iverson, Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, Amare Stoudemire and Dwayne Wade have all been listed at 50/1 by PinnacleSports.com.

The battle for Rookie of the Year honors is clearly between two former Connecticut Huskies. PinnacleSports.com believes that Charlotte center and second overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft Emeka Okafor is the clear favorite to win the award at 5/12 odds over his former teammate, Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon who stands at 9/5 to be named Rookie of the Year. Similar to MVP betting, two-thirds of all the money wagered to date on the Rookie of the Year has been laid on Okafor capturing the award. Orlando's Dwight Howard, the first overall pick in last June's draft, is the only other player PinnacleSports.com has calculated individual odds for, listing Howard as a 50/1 long shot to win the award.

"Despite a number of veterans having career seasons, while leading their teams into playoff contention, Shaq and Steve Nash have both transformed their new teams into serious championship contenders," said Simon Noble of PinnacleSports.com. "The same holds true with this year's rookies where Okafor and Gordon are clearly the class of the draft and have had the biggest impact on their teams and the league."

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	PinnacleSports.com Releases NBA MVP Odds 20 Apr 2005 <a href='https://ad.casinocity.com/adclick.php?n=a21efcd1'><img src='https://ad.casinocity.com/adview.php?what=-site:vendors/width:250/RON&n=a21efcd1' border='0' alt='' /></a> WILLEMSTAD, Curacao, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- With the NBA regular season coming to an end this evening, fans everywhere want to know who will win the league's most coveted awards. Although a number of players have had outstanding seasons, the races to win the NBA's Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awards both appear to be between just two worthy candidates. The Internet's largest sports betting site, PinnacleSports.com today released odds on which players would be named the 2005 NBA MVP and Rookie of the Year. In the MVP race, PinnacleSports.com considers two players that changed teams in the off-season as the clear frontrunners to be named the league's best player. Miami center Shaquille O'Neal is an overwhelming favorite to win the MVP at 1/2 odds after propelling the Heat to the best record in the Eastern Conference and first seed in the conference playoffs. Bettors have certainly jumped on "the Big Diesel's" MVP bandwagon, with nearly 65 percent of all money wagered placed on O'Neal so far. The only serious threat to Shaq for MVP is Phoenix point guard Steve Nash (6/5), who has led the Suns to a 60- plus win season and the league's best regular season record. Former league MVP Allen Iverson, Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, Amare Stoudemire and Dwayne Wade have all been listed at 50/1 by PinnacleSports.com. The battle for Rookie of the Year honors is clearly between two former Connecticut Huskies. PinnacleSports.com believes that Charlotte center and second overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft Emeka Okafor is the clear favorite to win the award at 5/12 odds over his former teammate, Chicago Bulls guard Ben Gordon who stands at 9/5 to be named Rookie of the Year. Similar to MVP betting, two-thirds of all the money wagered to date on the Rookie of the Year has been laid on Okafor capturing the award. Orlando's Dwight Howard, the first overall pick in last June's draft, is the only other player PinnacleSports.com has calculated individual odds for, listing Howard as a 50/1 long shot to win the award. "Despite a number of veterans having career seasons, while leading their teams into playoff contention, Shaq and Steve Nash have both transformed their new teams into serious championship contenders," said Simon Noble of PinnacleSports.com. "The same holds true with this year's rookies where Okafor and Gordon are clearly the class of the draft and have had the biggest impact on their teams and the league."

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PinnacleSports.com Releases NBA MVP Odds