Blazers entertain Nuggets at Rose Garden

Basketball Betting Lines

02/04/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Northwest Division rivals meet in Rip City on Saturday when the Jekyll and Hyde Portland Trail Blazers entertain the well-rounded Denver Nuggets at the Rose Garden.

The Blazers have been two different teams this season depending on where the games are being played. Portland fell to a miserable 3-9 on the road after Thursday's 95-92 setback at Sacramento.

Raymond Felton and Jamal Crawford both missed three-pointers for the Blazers in the final 10 seconds of that one to seal the win for the lowly Kings.

LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 28 points and 14 rebounds for Portland, which has lost two of three overall and four straight as the visitor. Felton finished with 15 points and 10 assists.

"We've had every opportunity the last (couple) road games and we're finding ways to lose it," Crawford said.

Portland is a sizzling 10-1 as the host. On the injury front for the Blazers, forward Nicolas Batum missed his second straight game against the Kings with a bone bruise on his left knee. He is listed as questionable for tonight

The Nuggets look to bounce back from last night's 93-89 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at the Pepsi Center when they invade the Rose City.

Al Harrington ended with 24 points and eight rebounds for the Nuggets, who have lost three of four since a six-game winning streak. Andre Miller and Ty Lawson chipped in 16 and 14 points, respectively, in a losing cause.

Harrington's three-pointer bounced off the rim in the final second.

"For an end of the game situation against a good defensive team he got a fair release," Denver head coach George Karl said. "I wouldn't call it a great shot. I'd like better, I would have liked to have gone quicker. I would have liked to have gone to the rim in four or five seconds. [Derek] Fisher has been there a lot of times. He made a good defensive play and Ty didn't give it a second attempt. The play before that broke open very well and the last play didn't open very well."

To make matters worse, Denver lost starting center Timofey Mozgov to a sprained left ankle. With about 10 minutes to go in the third quarter, Mozgov came down awkwardly on his left ankle after making a layup. He was not able to put pressure on his left foot, but X-rays came back negative. Mozgov is expected to sit out tonight's game.

Danilo Gallinari had six points in less than 29 minutes against the Lakers and is questionable tonight with blurred vision in his left eye. He leads Denver with 17.0 points per game.

After visiting the Blazers Saturday, the Nuggets, who are 8-4 as the guest, will return to the Rocky Mountains for a three-game homestand versus the Rockets, Mavericks and Warriors.

Portland has won two straight over Denver overall and four consecutive in Rip City, including a 111-102 win on Dec. 29 this season.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.