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Celtics back in Beantown to host NuggetsBasketball Betting Lines03/24/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of first-place teams will square off this evening at Boston's TD Garden, where the Atlantic Division-leading Celtics begin a long homestand with a showdown against a Denver Nuggets squad seeking to bounce back from a loss the previous night. Boston returns home off a tough road trip against three Western Conference clubs sporting winning records. The Celtics opened the swing in fine fashion, besting Houston and Dallas on consecutive nights, but couldn't handle the talented Utah Jazz in a 110-97 loss on Monday. The Celtics had a 12-point lead late in the second quarter, but Utah closed out the first half on a 7-0 run and scored the first nine points of the third quarter to grab a 58-54 advantage. The Jazz had an 8-0 spurt later in the period that put the hosts ahead by a 73-63 count. "They started the third quarter pretty electric," Boston forward Kevin Garnett said. "You pretty much have to anticipate it. As many times as I have played here they have always been able to come back out. We were pretty aggressive the first half, so you had to anticipate them actually coming out with some energy." Ray Allen paced Boston, which had won four in a row prior to the setback, with Glen Davis and Paul Pierce scoring 13 and 11 points, respectively, on the night. Despite the loss, the Celtics own a comfortable 9 1/2-game cushion on second- place Toronto in the Atlantic standings and are tied with Atlanta for the No. 3 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. Utah's victory allowed the team to gain some ground on the front-running Nuggets in the Northwest Division race, and the gap was closed further following Denver's 109-104 loss at New York last night. The Jazz now trail the Nuggets by only one game for first place. Denver took a four-point lead into halftime of Tuesday's matchup, but was outscored 34-21 in the third quarter to fall behind by an 83-74 score. The Knicks recorded the last 11 points of the period and staved off a Nuggets' comeback attempt over the final few minutes. The Nuggets fell despite 36 points from Carmelo Anthony and a 25-point, six- assist effort from point guard Chauncey Billups. The loss was costly for Denver, which fell into a tie with Dallas for second place in the West in addition to allowing Utah to cut into the division lead. "This game meant so much to us," Billups said. "We're over there fighting in the Western Conference in a dogfight, on a brutal road trip. Other than it being one game and beating a good team, this game doesn't mean that much to the Knicks." Tuesday's tilt was the first test of an important five-game road trip for the Nuggets, and they'll be without head coach George Karl for the entire trek as he undergoes treatment for neck and throat cancer. Assistant Adrian Dantley will continue to run the team in the interim. Karl has missed a total of eight games while fighting the disease, with the Nuggets having gone 5-3 over that stretch. Denver has lost in 10 of its last 12 visits to Boston, but did snap a three- game road skid in the series with a 94-85 triumph last season. The Nuggets also handed the Celtics a 114-105 defeat in Colorado on February 21 behind 26 points and seven assists out of Billups. The Celtics play the first of six straight home games tonight and own a 21-12 record at the Garden this season. Boston has won three straight and five of its last six as the host.
<< Cavs visit Paul, Hornets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers will hit the road for back-to-back games starting with tonight's showdown in the Big Easy against the New Orleans Hornets. Cleveland will also visit San Antonio and owns the best road rec
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A two-game winning streak has enhanced the Toronto Raptors' chances of reaching the playoffs, but the club will be facing a step up in competition when it starts a brief homestand with tonight's encounter with the formida
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Sportsbooks to bet on footballRecently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it. He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games. "Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote. He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games. Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk. Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible. Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines. Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy. With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season. Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas). And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.) The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors. While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger. Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under. One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it. Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami. What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5. That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well. MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple. "The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money. "At the end of the day, we liked the home team." So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams. In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish. MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover. The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing. Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed. MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash. To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence. The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night. MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds. A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family. A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital. Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards. |
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