Houston’s NBA odds aren’t any better after their Game 2 loss to the Lakers on Wednesday night, but the best part of it all wasn’t even the confrontation between Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant, or even the tangle between Derek Fisher and Luis Scola, but it was Artest’s post-game interview.

Oh man, so classic. Dude’s talkin’ about people gettin’ stabbed in the chest with table legs. We (old-school sportsbook players) all know the NBA isn’t the game we grew up watching, the one with the “Bad Boys” and the heated Bulls-Knicks/Bulls-Pistons rivalries, but apparently they weren’t nothing compared to what Artest saw in Queensbridge, New York.

I was thinking that there should be some sort of NBA odds on how many, or how long, it would take for Bryant and Artest to get into it. Both are hard-nosed competitors, and Bryant DID elbow Artest in the throat. He shouldn’t have been ejected from the game, even Bryant said so himself, because I think Kobe likes the challenge as proven by his 40-point explosion. They didn’t even make it out of Los Angeles. The NBA odds for another Bryant/Artest square-off? EXCELLENT.

I’ve got a busy weekend lined up with UFC 97 odds and NBA betting action for the playoffs, but there’s still some awards to give out, and it started yesterday with LeBron James’ MVP award. Today? The Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player awards.

Rookie of the Year

This draft class turned out to be quite deep, and Memphis’ O.J. Mayo, Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and New Jersey’s Brook Lopez all deserve a shoutout. But Derrick Rose was under a ton of pressure, being drafted first overall by his hometown Chicago Bulls, and the kid they call “Pooh” delivered and then some. He was probably Chicago’s most consistent player all year, playing arguably the toughest position on the court, and he never really fell off. The kicker: his team has an NBA betting chance in the postseason, not a great one, but a chance nonetheless as he’s one of only two players in the top 10 of that draft class to still be playing. Once he gets a consistent jumper, it’s over.

Defensive Player of the Year

I’ve seen some reporters (ahemESPNahem) that threw names like LeBron James and Dwayne Wade out there for DPOY, and that’s fine, that’s their opinion. The problem is, that opinion is terrible. Dwight Howard is a near-lock to earn the first of many DPOY awards, leading the league in rebounding and blocks, and if there was a stat for altered shots, he’d lead that, too. With D-12 in the middle, Orlando has a very good NBA betting chance of representing the East in the NBA finals.