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03/29/2009 - New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David West went 11-for-11 from the free throw line as part of a 23-point effort, and the New Orleans Hornets made up some ground in the Southwest Division with a 90-86 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
West also pulled down 16 rebounds for New Orleans, which moved to within 2 1/2 games of the Spurs with 10 games remaining. The Hornets also moved into a sixth-place tie with the idle Jazz in the conference standings.
Chris Paul added 26 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, as the Hornets won for the fourth time in six games. Antonio Daniels contributed 10 points in the victory.
Tony Parker had a team-high 20 points to go with seven assists for San Antonio, which had a three-game win streak snapped and dropped to only a half- game ahead of Denver and Houston for second place in the West. Nonetheless, the Spurs clinched a playoff spot after Phoenix lost to lowly Sacramento on Sunday.
Tim Duncan provided 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Manu Ginobili had 17 points in the defeat. Michael Finley added 12 points.
Trailing by five to start the fourth, the Spurs cut their deficit to 72-71 on a Drew Gooden layup with 8:36 left, but the Hornets pushed their lead back to five, 80-75, on a Paul jumper with five minutes remaining.
A Matt Bonner three made it a three-point game with 3:40 left, and, after several failed possessions by both teams, West's jumper with 38.9 seconds left made it 85-80 in favor of New Orleans.
Finley's three-point attempt was off on the ensuing possession, and Rasual Butler hit two free throws to put the hosts ahead by seven.
Just when the game seemed to be in control, Ginobili drained a three and was fouled on New Orleans' inbounds attempt, giving the ball back to San Antonio. Finley promptly connected on a three from the corner to make it 87-86 with 17.8 seconds to play.
Paul was fouled by Ginobili with 7.1 seconds on the clock in the act of shooting a three-pointer from about half-court. San Antonio was extremely unhappy with the shooting foul call, but Paul sank all three from the line to make it a four-point, two-possession game.
San Antonio only got one shot off before the buzzer, a missed three-pointer by Finley, giving New Orleans the victory.
The Spurs held a 25-19 lead after the first quarter, but the Hornets cut their deficit to 47-43 at halftime.
New Orleans quickly made up its deficit, forging ahead, 55-53, on a Julian Wright three-point play just past the seven-minute mark.
Back-to-back threes later in the third from Finley and Ginobili put the Spurs back in front by four, but a Sean Marks dunk gave the Hornets a 64-63 lead with 2 1/2 minutes to go. The hosts led, 68-63, heading to the fourth.
Game Notes
New Orleans leads the season series 2-1, and the teams will meet on April 15 in San Antonio to close out the season...Spurs center Fabricio Oberto missed his second straight game with a irregular heartbeat...New Orleans forward James Posey missed the game after being suspended for one contest following an altercation with a referee in the team's loss to New York on Friday...The Spurs fell to 21-11 in games decided by six or less points.
<< Ryan, Ducks keep Avalanche in freefall
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Ryan scored twice in Anaheim's 4-1 win
over the Colorado Avalanche at Honda Center.
Corey Perry and Drew Miller also tallied for the Ducks, who have won six of
their last seven games. Jonas Hiller t
<< Hornets gain ground on Southwest Division-leading Spurs
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David West went 11-for-11 from the free
throw line as part of a 23-point effort, and the New Orleans Hornets made up
some ground in the Southwest Division with a 90-86 victory over the San
Antonio
<< Canucks blank Blackhawks to tighten West playoff race
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daniel Sedin registered two goals and an
assist, and Roberto Luongo made 26 saves to notch his seventh shutout of the
season, as the Vancouver Canucks stymied the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-0, at
United
<< Purdue downs Rutgers, moves on
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lakisha Freeman netted 18 points and the
sixth-seeded Purdue Boilermakers defeated the seventh-seeded Rutgers Scarlet
Knights, 67-61, in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament's Oklahoma City
Regiona
Williams sisters continue to cruise, Safina ousted in Miami >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sisters Serena and Venus Williams won their
matches in straight sets Sunday and advanced to the fourth round of the $4.5
million Sony Ericsson Open.
Top-ranked Serena topped China's Peng Shuai, the 32n
Suns' playoff hopes take a hit in loss to lowly Kings >>
Sacramento, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Thompson was one of seven Kings in
double figures, logging 21 points and eight rebounds as Sacramento dealt
Phoenix's playoff chances a crushing blow in a 126-118 decision over the Suns.
Spen
Oklahoma cruises past Pitt on way to Elite Eight >>
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Freshman Whitney Hand poured in a career-
high 22 points to power the top-seeded Oklahoma Sooners over the fourth-seeded
Pittsburgh Panthers, 70-59, in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament's
Oklahom
Van der Vaart denies Chelsea rumors >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Netherlands midfield ace Rafael van der Vaart
has denied reports suggesting that he is close to agreeing to a move to
Chelsea from Real Madrid.
The 26-year-old has struggled to make his mark at th
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond!
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