James, Paul MVP favorites

Those who believe Allen Iverson will be named the most valuable player in today’s NBA All-Star game in New Orleans can get odds of 6-1 on the Denver guard, according to the website Bodoglife.com

Although he has yet to win the prize as a member of the Nuggets, Iverson twice was the All-Star MVP when playing for Philadelphia, winning in 2001 and again in 2005.

The co-favorites at 9-2 are Cleveland’s LeBron James, who was the 2006 MVP, and Chris Paul, point guard of the hometown Hornets. David West, who also plays for New Orleans, is 20-1.

Iverson’s Denver teammate, Carmelo Anthony, is 7-1, San Antonio’s Tim Duncan, who was co-MVP with Shaquille O’Neal in 2000, is 10-1, Phoenix’s Steve Nash is 15-1 and Boston’s Paul Pierce is 18-1.

The price on two or more players sharing the award, like Duncan and O’Neal did eight years ago, is 8-1.

The Western Conference, which has won the All-Star game six times since 2000, is favored to do so once more. The website Sportsbook.com has the West a 7 1/2 -point favorite over the East and the over/under on total number of points is 261 1/2 .

If last year is any indication, the West and the over is the way to go. In a game that included only 17 fouls, the West prevailed, 153-132. Four times in the last eight All-Star games the total number of points scored has been more than 261 1/2 .

NASCAR

Ten years after his late father’s victory in the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the 4-1 favorite at Bodoglife.com to win the 50th running of the race in Florida.

A player can also get 6-5 that Earnhardt Jr., who won at Daytona in 2004, will finish in the top three.

Jeff Gordon, who has won the race three times (1997, 1999 and 2005), along with 2006 winner Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart, are all 5-1. Gordon and Stewart are 3-2 to finish in the top three, and Johnson is 9-5.

Kevin Harvick, the defending champion, is 20-1 and 6-1 to finish in the top three. Dario Franchitti, the 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner who is in his first full year competing on the NASCAR circuit, is 100-1.

Hockey

Buffalo and Pittsburgh, two teams currently heading in different directions, will get together today -- indoors -- in western New York.

The last time the surging Sabres and the Penguins played in Buffalo was for a nationally televised game on New Year’s Day in Ralph Wilson Memorial Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Bills. Led by Sidney Crosby, the Penguins won, 2-1, in a shootout.

A recent 8-0-2 streak by Buffalo has elevated the Sabres into a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference while the Penguins, who are without Crosby because of a sprained ankle, have lost two in a row. Still, they have managed to go 6-4-2 since their young superstar was injured.

So far this season, Pittsburgh is 2-0 against Buffalo, having also won, 2-0, at home on Dec. 29 and have defeated the Sabres in four of the last six meetings.

bob.mieszerski@latimes.com