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03/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers hope to improve their playoff chances tonight by earning a sixth straight win over the lottery-bound Sacramento Kings.
The Blazers, who currently lead Memphis by four games for the eighth and final postseason spot in the Western Conference, will also be shooting for their second win over the Kings this week. Portland topped Sacramento, 88-81, in the Rose Garden on Tuesday behind Brandon Roy's 19 points.
Most recently the Blazers downed Golden State on Thursday, when Roy scored 41 points and had eight rebounds and Portland locked down the Warriors in the fourth quarter and rallied for a 110-105 victory.
Andre Miller contributed 15 points and seven assists, LaMarcus Aldridge added 14 points and eight assists, while Jerryd Bayless and Rudy Fernandez donated 12 points apiece off the bench for Portland, which has won two straight games and solidified its standing for a playoff spot in the West.
The Trail Blazers, who outscored the Warriors 27-9 in the last quarter, now sit a half-game behind San Antonio for the seventh playoff spot.
Portland snapped a nine-game losing streak on the road versus the Warriors, winning for the first time in Oakland since November 3, 2004.
"We don't want to lose here, but this is one of the toughest places for us to win," Roy said. "We knew how big this game was. We won this game, but it was tough. I'm just happy with the way we responded to their runs."
The Kings, meanwhile, rebounded from their loss to the Blazers earlier in the week by topping Toronto, 113-90, on Wednesday. Rookie star Tyreke Evans logged his first career triple-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and as many assists as Sacramento cruised.
Beno Udrih led all scorers with 24 points, while Donte Greene and Carl Landry chipped in 15 points apiece for the Kings, who put the brakes on a three-game losing streak.
"Coach (Paul Westphal) told me that he wanted me to get it (a triple-double)," said Evans. "He kept telling me to find people and he said I had a limited amount of time too, so I was trying to get it as fast as I could."
Roy has averaged 22.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists in the Blazers' two wins over Sacramento this season.
<< Pistons resume homestand with visit from Wizards
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Eastern Conference also-rans continue playing out
the string tonight in Auburn Hills, where the Detroit Pistons play host to the
Washington Wizards.
The Pistons fell to 1-1 on a three-game homestand Wednesday, wh
<< Lakers visit Phoenix for key Pacific showdown
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The two top teams in the Pacific Division meet for the last
time in the regular season tonight, when the second-place Phoenix Suns welcome
the front-running Los Angeles Lakers to the U.S. Airways Center.
The defending NBA
<< Stars return home to face Williams and Kings
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Stars haven't done much to further their playoff
chances since the Olympic break, but an upcoming six-game homestand for a team
that has been strong this year as the host could do the trick.
Dallas begins that residenc
<< Bucks, Jazz to square off in battle of surging clubs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of the NBA's hottest teams clash in Brew City tonight
as the Utah Jazz pay a visit to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Jazz won their fourth straight contest and improved to 2-0 on a four-game
road trip Wednesday in Auburn Hil
Dynamo bring back Serioux >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Dynamo acquired defender/midfielder
Adrian Serioux from Toronto FC in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2011
draft, the Major League Soccer clubs announced on Friday.
The 31-year-old Serioux,
George Karl to miss 3 more road games >>
DENVER (AP) -George Karl will skip the last three games on the Denver Nuggets' road trip as he adjusts to a feeding tube that was placed into his stomach as part of his cancer treatment.The Nuggets coach has already missed two games since being diag
Bengals make it official with Bryant >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals announced the
signings of wide receivers Antonio Bryant and Chris Davis Friday.
Terms of the contracts were not released, but Bryant's deal is believed to be
for $28 million
Karl to miss remainder of Denver road trip >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver Nuggets coach George Karl will miss the
remaining three games of the team's road trip as he continues his treatment
for neck and throat cancer.
Karl missed the opening game of the trip on Wednesd
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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