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02/23/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Basketball fans will receive a nice treat before the NBA All-Star break with tonight's matchup between two of the league's best, as the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder play host to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers from Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The Thunder share the NBA's best record with the Miami Heat at 26-7 and have won 11 in a row at home, where they are 14-1 this season. The Thunder are averaging 107.9 points per game during their home winning streak and last won 12 straight as the host twice under head coach George Karl during the 1997-98 campaign when the team resided in Seattle.
Oklahoma City will wrap up a five-game residency tonight and has won four straight overall and six of seven games, including Wednesday's 119-104 victory over the Boston Celtics thanks to 31 points, six assists and five rebounds from Russell Westbrook. Kevin Durant did his part, as usual, with 28 points, nine boards, six assists and four steals for the Thunder, who made 50 percent of their shots and scored 24 points off 18 Boston turnovers.
"I thought in the first half we moved the ball extremely well," Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. "In the second half, we got the big lead and got a little sloppy."
Sloppy or not, the Thunder own a comfortable lead atop the Northwest Division standings and got 17 points apiece from James Harden and Daequan Cook. In Brooks' defense, his team almost blew a 26-point lead to New Orleans on Monday before watching a 27-point advantage vanish versus the Celtics. Westbrook has been on fire over his last three games, averaging 34 ppg.
After hosting the Lakers in OKC, the Thunder will kick off a three-game road trip through Philadelphia, Orlando and Atlanta after the break.
Los Angeles has been dealing with off-the-court issues lately with trade rumors and players-only meetings, but that hasn't stopped the team from winning two straight and five of six games.
On a night Bryant struggled for 15 points on 4-of-15 shooting, Pau Gasol -- the subject of those trade rumors -- picked up the slack in last night's 96-91 win at Dallas with 24 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
"I thought our guys did a nice job of executing down the stretch," said Lakers coach Mike Brown. "I feel like offensively we're getting a little better, but right now our end of game execution isn't quite where I want."
Andrew Bynum finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds and Derek Fisher added 15 points for Los Angeles, which is one game behind the Clippers for Pacific Division supremacy. The Lakers didn't get a chance to play against former forward Lamar Odom due to a family issue. Odom was dealt to the defending NBA champion Mavericks in the offseason.
The Lakers are just 6-11 as the guest this season and will begin a three-game homestand versus the Timberwolves, Kings and Heat after the All-Star break. They took two of three meetings from Oklahoma City a year ago and have won 14 of the past 16 meetings between the teams.
LA is facing a dangerous Thunder team on the road, however, but has prevailed in seven of the previous eight matchups as the visitor in this series.
<< Orantes elected to Tennis Hall of Fame
Newport, RI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Spanish star Manuel Orantes
has been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Orantes, who starred on the ATP World Tour in the 1970s and 1980s,
defeated a top-seeded
<< Hawks, Magic clash at Philips Arena
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks have to be thrilled the All-Star break is
right around the corner and they're one of the teams that could use the rest.
Heading into this weekend's break won't be easy, however, with the Southeast
Divis
<< Heat try to halt the Lin-sanity
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat have received plenty of attention thanks to
a star-studded lineup. With a squad that tries to blow the opposition out of
the building on any given day, the Heat look to deflate the recent surge the
New Yor
<< Sharks aim to get on track versus Maple Leafs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of struggling clubs will try to get back in the win
column tonight, as the San Jose Sharks visit the Toronto Maple Leafs for a
clash at Air Canada Centre.
The Sharks have been floundering on the road, posting a 1-4-
Hawkeyes and Badgers meet in Big Ten battle >>
Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 16th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers will look
to ground the Iowa Hawkeyes as they visit Carver-Hawkeye Arena for Big Ten
Conference action.
This will be the second encounter of this season and 155th in history
Cardinals and Bearcats collide in Queen City affair >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The tie for sixth-place in the Big East will
be broken tonight as the 17th-ranked Louisville Cardinals head to Fifth Third
Arena to battle the Cincinnati Bearcats.
This will be the 95th meeting in history be
14th-ranked Racers set sights on Tigers in Nashville >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 14th-ranked Murray State Racers will try
to avenge their only loss of the season as they head to the Gentry Center to
battle the Tennessee State Tigers in a premiere Ohio Valley Conference
matchup.
TSU a
Bertuzzi given two-year extension >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings announced a two-year
contract extension for veteran forward Todd Bertuzzi on Thursday. The new deal
is worth $2.25 million per season.
The 37-year-old Bertuzzi is in the third seas
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.
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