 |
 Basketball Betting |
 |
||||
|
 |
||||
|
||||
Bolstered Cavs host Nuggets, aim for 14th straight winBasketball Betting Lines02/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of the NBA's top teams square off in Cleveland Thursday, as the revamped Cavaliers play host to a Denver Nuggets team reeling from the news that head coach George Karl has been diagnosed with cancer. The Cavs, who entered the All-Star break with the NBA's best record (43-11) and a 13-game winning streak, didn't stand pat with the trade deadline looming, acquiring former All-Star forward Antawn Jamison from Washington in a three-team trade on Wednesday night. Cleveland also got point guard Sebastian Telfair from the Los Angeles Clippers in the complicated deal. Veteran center Zydrunas Ilgauskas went from the Cavs to Washington while the Wizards also received Cleveland's first-round draft pick this year, forward Al Thornton from Los Angeles and the draft rights to Emil Preldzic from Cleveland. Drew Gooden, who was acquired by the Wizards from Dallas in a deal last week, went to the Clippers. Jamison is expected to provide the Cavaliers with another scoring threat to complement LeBron James. On the floor in their last outing before the break, James had a near triple- double with 32 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds to lead the Cavaliers in a 115-106 triumph over fellow Eastern Conference power Orlando, tying the club record for consecutive wins. James scored 11 of his points during an 18-2 run that broke open what was a tie game at 96-96 with a little more than six minutes to play. J.J. Hickson added 20 points and Anderson Varejao shot 8-of-11 for 16 points off the bench as the Cavs improved to 6-0 on their seven-game homestand and collected an 11th straight home win. "It's definitely fun when you get one of the best teams in your house or when you play against one of the best teams," said James. "You want to try to see where you match up and you want to see if that winning streak is really valid." Karl, meanwhile, disclosed he has a treatable form of neck and throat cancer at a press conference on Tuesday night and said that he will undergo chemotherapy and radiation therapy to combat the disease. "The treatment began (Tuesday), and in general it's about a six-week treatment," Karl said. "There could be a possibility throughout the six weeks that I could miss games and practices, depending on my pain and fatigue levels. My hope is that it is a curable and treatable disease. I hope to be as close to 100 percent as I can come playoff time in April." Karl recently coached the West's All-Stars on Sunday in Dallas and received a one-year contract extension last week. The Nuggets currently sit atop the Northwest Division standings at 35-18, good for second place in the competitive Western Conference. This isn't the coach's first bout with cancer. He also underwent surgery in 2005 to battle prostate cancer. He did not miss any time with the Nuggets following that procedure. Karl's son, Coby, is also a cancer survivor. Karl went on to say that he will likely miss two games in the near future: at Golden State on Feb. 25 and at Minnesota on March 10. In those instances, assistant coach Adrian Dantley will serve as the head coach. On the floor, Denver entered the All-Star break in losing fashion when San Antonio's DeJuan Blair and George Hill each scored 17 points and the Spurs dominated the Denver Nuggets, 111-92, at the Pepsi Center last Thursday. Nene finished with 20 points and nine rebounds for the Nuggets, who were trying to notch back-to-back series victories against the Spurs for the first time since the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons. Carmelo Anthony had 19 points and six rebounds, while fellow All-Star Chauncey Billups ended with 17 points and seven assists for Denver, which shot just 39.2 percent from the field. Cleveland swept the home-and-home series a year ago, but the Nuggets responded with a 99-97 win over the Cavs in Denver last month.
<< Astros beat LHP Rodriguez in salary arbitration
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -The Houston Astros have beaten Wandy Rodriguez in salary arbitration, and the pitcher will be paid $5 million this year instead of his $7 million request.Arbitrators Richard Bloch, Elizabeth Neumeier and Fredric Horowitz m
<< Arbitration Winners-Losers
<< Iowa player to plead guilty in cabbie punch
<< Rangers' Young says team is 'good ... we know it'
<< Pettersen, Hur share lead in Thailand
Lakers, Celtics ready to renew rivalry minus Bryant >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The bright lights are beckoning in the NBA tonight as the league's two most storied franchises, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, meet at Staples Center. The marquee matchup will likely lose a little of its luster
Badgers and Gophers square off in Big Ten action >>
Commodores and Rebels mix it up in Oxford >>
West Coast Conference clash pits Bulldogs against Lions >>
Pitt and Marquette meet in Milwaukee >>
FOOTBALL BETTING LINESNFL Football Sports BettingTwo playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers. New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count. New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend. His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates. HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game. The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup. RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day. First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08. The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition. These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years. New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5. You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff! Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines .
How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later. While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better. For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory. 1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season. 2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped. How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number. Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules. Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically. How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games). Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition. Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on college football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards. |
|
