Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
02/14/2007 -
The Dallas Mavericks used a strong fourth quarter to rally for their eighth straight win. The Miami Heat are rolling, too, and when they return to the court after the All-Star game, coach Pat Riley will be back on the sideline for the first time since Jan. 3.
Dirk Nowitzki had 38 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, and the Mavs overcame a 16-point second-half deficit to pull out a 99-93 victory at Milwaukee on Tuesday night. The Mavericks, with the NBA's best record of 43-9, outscored the Bucks 28-11 in the fourth quarter. Milwaukee self-destructed with six turnovers and failed to hit a field goal in the final 7:05.
``We really scrambled trying to contest shots,'' Nowitzki said. ``We feel like we're a good defensive team, but we have to step it up earlier. Especially on the road, you don't want a team to get up 16.''
Dallas took its first lead of the game, 93-92, with 1:04 to play on Nowitzki's layup after the Mavericks got a third chance with a pair of offensive rebounds.
Dwyane Wade shook off a bruised left shoulder to score 16 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, and Miami beat Portland 104-85 to get back to the .500 mark for the first time in three months.
The NBA champion Heat have won seven of eight to even their record at 26-26 going into the All-Star break. Riley will be back next week after recovering from surgeries on his hip and knee.
``I'm just glad we won. We've gotten to the point we kept talking about,'' said interim coach Ron Rothstein, who went 13-9 as Riley's replacement and helped the team recover from being six games under .500 on Jan. 27. ``Now this is our launching pad for after the break.''
In other games Tuesday night, it was: San Antonio 107, New Jersey 82; Memphis 108, New Orleans 104; Toronto 112, Chicago 111; Houston 109, Sacramento 104 in overtime; and New York 107, the Los Angeles Lakers 106.
Milwaukee's Ruben Patterson, who finished with 20 points, tied the score 93 by hitting the second of two free throws. But Nowitzki drove and found Jason Terry for a 16-foot jumper that put Dallas ahead 95-93 with 34.9 seconds left.
``Dirk Nowitzki is incredible,'' Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. ``Man, sometimes, I get caught watching him, he's so good.''
With a chance to tie, the Bucks missed yet another shot when Charlie Bell, who finished with 11 points, misfired on an 18-footer. The Mavericks got the rebound, and Jerry Stackhouse hit two free throws. Nowitzki added two free throws of his own for the final margin.
Dallas, which has now won 29 of its last 31 games, also got 15 points from Josh Howard and 13 points from Stackhouse. Terry also had 10 assists.
Andrew Bogut had 16 points and 17 rebounds for Milwaukee, which has lost seven of its last eight and is 3-18 since Jan. 1.
At Miami, Wade almost single-handedly decided things with three straight baskets in an 88-second span early in the fourth quarter. The Heat led 73-70 entering the period, and the game was still up for grabs when Juan Dixon hit a 3-pointer with 9:14 left.
However, Wade's three baskets pushed the lead to 85-75 - the Heat's biggest to that point - with 7:46 remaining. Miami would lead by as many as 21 in the final minutes.
``He showed why he is one of the best players in the league,'' Portland's Joel Przybilla said. ``He just took over. They showed why they are the world champs.''Spurs 107, Nets 82
Tim Duncan scored seven of his 21 points in a 20-0 San Antonio spurt to start the second quarter and the visiting Spurs took advantage of the absence of Nets All-Star guard Jason Kidd.
Tony Parker added 19 points and Manu Ginobili had 14 as the Spurs avoided tying their season-high three-game losing streak with their third win in eight games.
Vince Carter had 18 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Nets.Grizzlies 108, Hornets 104
Hakim Warrick scored 15 points, including six straight in a key stretch late in the fourth quarter, and grabbed 12 rebounds for host Memphis.
Mike Miller scored 22 points to lead the Grizzlies. Chucky Atkins added 19, Rudy Gay had 18, and Junior Harrington and Pau Gasol 11 each.
Desmond Mason scored 23 points and David West had 22 as New Orleans snapped its three-game winning streak. Tyson Chandler had 17 points and a franchise record-tying 23 rebounds for the Hornets.Raptors 112, Bulls 111
At Chicago, Chris Bosh sank two free throws with 2.1 seconds left and Toronto blew a 12-point fourth-quarter lead before recovering for its 28th win - one more than the Raptors had all of last season.
Bosh finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds for the Raptors, who have won nine of their last 11 and ended a 15-game losing streak against the Bulls stretching back to Dec. 6, 2002.
Luol Deng scored 30 points and Ben Gordon added 26 for the Bulls.Rockets 109, Kings 104, OT
Tracy McGrady had 28 points and 12 assists as host Houston overcame Ron Artest's big night.
Artest matched his career high with 39 points, hitting 12 of 23 shots and going 10-for-11 from the free throw line, and also had eight rebounds for the Kings.
His free throws with 1:47 left in overtime put the Kings up 104-103, but McGrady hit a turning fadeaway over Artest with 1:29 left to put Houston up for good.Knicks 107, Lakers 106
Eddy Curry scored four of his 19 points in the final minute, including a go-ahead dunk with 7.1 seconds remaining, to lift visiting New York to its third win in four games.
Kobe Bryant, who had 31 points, made a short jumper with 29.9 seconds left to put the Lakers ahead, but Curry scored off a lob pass from Jamal Crawford.
The Lakers had plenty of time to go for a winning shot, but Bryant never touched the ball and Lamar Odom's jumper as time expired didn't hit the rim.
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< With James struggling, Wolves turn to Foye
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Marcus Banks didn't work, and neither did Marko Jaric.Mike James hasn't been the answer either, and the Minnesota Timberwolves couldn't swing a deal for Allen Iverson in December.Now they turn to Randy Foye as their starting point
<< Flames 4, Thrashers 1
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -Daymond Langkow scored twice and Jarome Iginla added a goal and two assists in the Calgary Flames' 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday night.Alex Tanguay also scored for Calgary, which moved ahead of Vancouver an
<< Thrashers-Flames, Sums
Atlanta 0 1 0-1Calgary 3 1 0-4First Period-1, Calgary, Langkow 23 (Phaneuf, Huselius), 2:59 (pp). 2, Calgary, Iginla 25 (Conroy, Tanguay), 6:19 (pp). 3, Calgary, Langkow 24 (Huselius, Iginla), 13:59 (pp). Penalties-Sim, Atl (goalie interferenc
<< Ducks-Avalanche, Sums
Anaheim 0 0 0-0Colorado 1 1 0-2First Period-1, Colorado, Hejduk 18 (Brunette, Sakic), 17:42 (pp). Penalties-Klee, Col (high-sticking), 2:32; Clark, Col (hooking), 11:24; Anaheim bench, served by Shannon (too many men), 17:02.Second Period-2, Colo
Weis testifies in obesity surgery lawsuit >>
BOSTON (AP) - Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis testified Wednesday he had gastric bypass surgery because he was afraid he would die if he didn't lose weight, but life-threatening complications resulted after the procedure.In his malpractice lawsuit, We
NFL COMBINE: Small school stars hoping to make big names for themselves >>
NEW YORK (AP) -Michael Coe wants what Danieal Manning has.Coe, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound cornerback from Alabama State, has looked at the career path of the Chicago Bears' rookie free safety, envisioning what it might be like to jump from a small school
NFL COMBINE: Small-school stars who went on to make it big in NFL >>
Sampling of players from small schools who went on to memorable NFL careers (aactive):Jerry Rice, wr, SF-Oak-Sea (Mississippi Valley State) - 13-time Pro Bowler holds just about every NFL receiving record and is career leader in touchdowns (207).Wal
Drills performed at the NFL combine >>
Drills to be performed at NFL combine in Indianapolis on Feb. 21-27, with last year's top finisher(s), position, school, team drafted by and result:10-yard dashMeasures burst and quickness20-yard dashMeasures build-up speed40-yard dashMeasures overa
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.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting