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02/14/2007 -
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 guard, hoping the heady rookie can be what they've been looking for since Stephon Marbury skipped town nine years ago.
Foye will make his second start in a row at point guard on Wednesday night when the Nuggets come to town sans Iverson, who will miss the game with an ankle injury.
``I'm excited to get out there with guys like KG, Ricky Davis,'' Foye said after practice Tuesday. ``It just makes it a little easier on me as a rookie out there.''
Coach Randy Wittman abruptly made the decision on Sunday against Boston, sending the veteran James to the bench in a move that did not sit well with the Wolves' biggest free-agent offseason acquisition.
``It is what it is,'' James said with a shrug. ``He's the boss. Have to listen to what he says.''
James' averages this season are down in every category, including an almost 50 percent drop in his scoring average from 20.3 last year in Toronto to 10.8 points a game.
With guys like Kevin Garnett, Mark Blount and Ricky Davis in the starting lineup, shots have been harder to come by this season for James, who parlayed a career year for the woeful Raptors into a four-year, $23 million deal with Minnesota.
He has struggled to fit in with the Timberwolves, a shoot-first point guard in a starting lineup full of guys who like to shoot the ball.
Looking to restore a little balance to the first and second units, Wittman put James on the bench in hopes his scorer's mentality will help a second team that has had trouble putting the ball in the hole.
``I didn't do it really for anything more than to try to see if we can help him,'' Wittman said of James. ``He's been up and down this year in his play.
``When you're playing with Kevin and Ricky and Mark Blount, the way Mark Blount's playing, there's a lot that you have to make sure they're getting their touches and getting in the right spots, which I think took away from his aggression.''
Foye recognizes that his approach will change with the new starter's status. He was the primary scorer in college at Villanova, and now he's charged with running the show, distributing the ball and getting everyone involved.
``I pass first with them guys,'' Foye said. ``One of the biggest things is, with them guys, I'm a passer in the beginning, but late in games I'm a scorer.''
That sounds a lot like a young Marbury, who worked so well with Garnett early in his career in what initially looked like a souped-up version of Stockton-to-Malone. The two complemented each other very well, with Garnett controlling play for the first three quarters before deferring to Marbury in the fourth period.
But Marbury eventually refused to play second fiddle to Garnett and forced a trade to New Jersey, and the Wolves have been searching for a replacement at the point ever since.
James' bravado and willingness to take the big shot seemed to make him qualified, but he scored in double figures (10) just once in his previous seven starts before coming off the bench on Sunday.
Against the Celtics, he scored just five points on free throws in 14 minutes.
``I didn't anticipate him being happy,'' Wittman said. ``What I do anticipate is him being professional and playing, which he did.
``Nobody likes to have that situation. I was a player once that lost it. You don't like it. But you have to go out and try to fight to get it back and stay aggressive. That's all I'm worried about.''
Foye had 10 points and eight assists against the Celtics and made a brilliant pass to Davis off a drive for the winning shot.
``He played under control,'' Wittman said. ``It's a fine line with him because he's an aggressive kid that looks to score and I thought he really handled moving the ball, getting guys involved, as well as attacking the basket at opportune times.''
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.
<< 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
<< Sharks-Blues, Sums
San Jose 3 3 0-6St. Louis 1 2 2-5First Period-1, San Jose, Clowe 13 (Thornton, Cheechoo), :39. 2, San Jose, Carle 6 (Cheechoo, Thornton), 6:51 (pp). 3, St. Louis, Guerin 23 (Backman, Tkachuk), 13:15 (pp). 4, San Jose, Grier 12 (Marleau, Michalek)
<< Islanders-Maple Leafs, Sums
N.Y. Islanders 0 2 0 0-3Toronto 1 1 0 0-2N.Y. Islanders won shootout 2-1First Period-1, Toronto, Kubina 5 (Colaiacovo, Steen), 6:14 (pp). Penalties-Meyer, NYI (hooking), 4:38, Gervais, NYI (hooking), 9:02.Second Period-2, N.Y. Islanders
Mavericks win eighth straight; Heat rolling into All-Star break >>
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 sin
Tuesday's College Basketball >>
Buffalo 98, Bowling Green 90, OTNiagara 89, Canisius 88Penn 48, Princeton 35SOUTHCharlotte 80, Louisiana-Lafayette 56E. Kentucky 46, Samford 38Georgia Tech 63, Florida St. 57Jacksonville St. 57, Morehead St. 52Old Dominion 96, Hofstra 82Stetson 88,
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
Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.
“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.
“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).
Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.
Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.
The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.
Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game
Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.
Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.
Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”
To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.
Recently 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.
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