The NBA shortened season will begin a week from today on Christmas Day with five games that surely will start the 66 game regular season with a bang. Join other fans and discuss the betting action in the NBA forums.

The Boston Celtics and New York Knicks will open the season in NY with oddsmakers making the Celtics an early 1 point favorite. The NBA Finals rematch between the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat will follow in Dallas with the Bulls Vs. Lakers, Magic Vs. Thunder and Clippers Vs. Warriors also on the schedule.

Let's take a look at the 5 top teams according to betting odds posted by the oddsmakers on who will win the NBA Championship.

Miami Heat +205
The Heat went 58-24 last year in the debut of the big three before falling to the Dallas Mavericks in six games of the NBA finals.

Miami returns with mostly the same team intact with a couple of additions. Shane Battier comes over from Memphis and fills a big role on this team with his leadership, perimeter defense and three point shooting. The Heat also hope rookie Norris Cole could be a rotation player at point guard for this team. The biggest questions on this team are still at center and point guard. But Lebron James and Dwyane Wade and motivated this season.

Last year the Heat struggled against the pointspread with a 39-42-1 ATS record. At home they were 15-25-1 ATS and 24-17 on the road. They were 34-37-1 as the betting favorite and 5-5 ATS as the underdog.

Los Angeles Lakers +395
Surprisingly the bookmakers are giving the Lakers a lot of credit here, more than likely overrating a team that has gotten older and lost Lamar Odom who was traded away to the Dallas Mavericks this offseason. The sportsbooks are most likely assuming the Lakers will find away to bring Dwight Howard to LA and pair him with Kobe Bryant which would make this number a lot more logical.

The Lakers went 57-25 on the season last year but were swept out of the playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks. Against the spread, the Lakers were 38-44 ATS including 15-26 ATS at home and 23-18 ATS on the road. They were 36-42 as the favorite and 2-1 ATS as a dog.

Chicago Bulls +605
Last year the Bulls shocked a lot of NBA experts with a dominating regular season (62-20), claiming the overall No. 1 seed and Derrick Rose took the next step and won the 2011 MVP award. Their season ended early as the Miami Heat were too much in the playoffs and the Bulls could not find anyone other than Rose to step up.

Chicago had a mostly quiet offseason but recently signed Rip Hamilton who was let go by the Detroit Pistons. Hamilton is not the same player as fans are hoping but he should be able to help this team with his clutch shooting.

The Bulls were also one of the top teams against the spread last year finishing 50-31-1 ATS including a 25-15-1 ATS home record and 25-16 ATS on the road. They finished 37-27-1 as a favorite and an impressive 13-4 as a dog. Don't expect the Bulls to be undervalued much this year.

Oklahoma City Thunder +675
The Thunder are one of those up and coming teams who look like they can be a top NBA team for many years to come. Led by young talent Russell Westbrook, James Harden and one of the best players in the game, Kevin Durant - Oklahoma City is considered the favorite to win the Western Conference.

Oklahoma City went 55-27 SU last year and were 43-38-1 ATS.

Dallas Mavericks +925
Not many are giving the defending champions much of a chance to repeat. They lost key players Tyson Chandler and JJ Barrea but did bring in veterans Lamar Odom, Delonte West and Vince Carter to go along with the aging Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki who finally won a championship and is one of the game's best.

Dallas went 57-25 SU during the season before beating Portland, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City and the Miami Heat on way to winning the NBA title. Against the spread the Mavericks were 43-37-2. They were best as an underdog going 24-17 ATS.

Other NBA future odds to note are the New York Knicks +1825 and Boston Celtics +1425 in the East and in the West, the LA Clippers who recently acquired Chris Paul are now +1625 while the San Antonio Spurs +3250 and Denver Nuggets +5550 appear to have some value.