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03/09/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers hope to bounce back from one of their worst defensive performances of the season tonight when they take on the Sacramento Kings at the Rose Garden.
Carmelo Anthony posted 30 points on Sunday to lead Denver to a 118-106 victory over Portland in a Northwest Division battle.
Jerryd Bayless scored 24 points to lead the Trail Blazers, who had won five of six coming into the game. Andre Miller added 29 points and LaMarcus Aldridge had 16 for Portland. Brandon Roy, however, made just 3-of-14 from the floor for 12 points in defeat.
"Every time we would get it under 10, we would turn the ball over, miss some free throws or just something to allow them to get their momentum back," Blazers head coach Nate McMillan said.
Defense has been a key to Portland's success all year and the team is a miserable 4-16 when they allow 100 points or more.
The Kings, meanwhile, dropped their second straight game on Sunday when Kevin Durant scored 27 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists, as the Thunder stayed hot with a 108-102 win over Sacramento at ARCO Arena.
Rookie star Tyreke Evans paced the Kings with 24 points and seven assists, but Sacramento suffered its eighth loss in 11 games. Carl Landry provided 20 points and eight rebounds, while Francisco Garcia had 14 points in the setback.
"We did so many good things out there against a really good team," said Kings head coach Paul Westphal. "They're one of the best defensive teams in the league, and we really defended them pretty well, but we couldn't keep them off the glass."
Rookie Omri Casspi was given the night off by Westphal against Oklahoma City but is expected to be back in the lineup tonight as Sacramento attempts to stop a four-game slide against the Blazers.
<< Red Wings host Flames in matchup of playoff hopefuls
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames and Detroit Red Wings will both be
aiming for a third straight victory when they meet in the Motor City tonight
for a battle between playoff hopefuls at Joe Louis Arena.
In addition to winning two straig
<< Thrashers, Predators both aim to avoid third straight loss
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of playoff hopefuls will try to avoid third
consecutive losses tonight when the Atlanta Thrashers host the Nashville
Predators at Philips Arena.
Both the Thrashers and Predators came out of the Olympic break with ba
<< Slumping Lakers target win vs. Raptors
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The reigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers hope to avoid
their longest losing streak in three seasons tonight when they hit the
hardwood against the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center.
The Lakers dropped their
<< 2010 Southeastern Conference Tournament Preview
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The competition level will be through the
roof in Nashville this week, as all 12 SEC teams will compete in the 51st
annual conference tournament. On the line is an automatic bid to the NCAA
Tournament, and th
Jazz open trek against Bulls >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The surging Utah Jazz hope to keep the pressure on
Northwest Division-leading Denver when they begin a four-game road trip in the
Windy City against a reeling Chicago Bulls team.
Traditionally the Jazz don't per
Habs return home to face Lightning >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Having just completed a successful road trip, the Montreal
Canadiens will play for the first time at the Bell Centre in nearly a month
when the playoff hopefuls host the Tampa Bay Lightning this evening.
Montreal began its
Panthers aim for rare win against Wild >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Florida Panthers were able to stop their longest losing
streak of the season with victories in their last two games. Now the team will
turn its attention towards ending a long winless drought against the Minnesota
Wild wh
Canucks visit Avs in clash between Northwest's top two teams >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Of all the games the Vancouver Canucks have played on their
NHL-record 14-game road trip, tonight's contest with the Colorado Avalanche
could be the most important.
Northwest Division-leading Vancouver will try to extend i
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.
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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