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02/17/2012 - Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Blake Griffin scored 21 points and pulled down 14 rebounds, as the Los Angeles Clippers outlasted Portland, 74-71.
Mo Williams added 17 points and six boards off the bench, while Chris Paul chipped in with 13 points and six rebounds for the Clippers, who have won four of five.
Nicolas Batum and Jamal Crawford led Portland with 19 points apiece, while Wesley Matthews posted 16 points. Raymond Felton didn't score in just over 24 minutes, finishing 0-for-7 from the floor for Portland, which has lost three of four and squandered an 18-point lead in the third quarter.
Portland raced out to an early lead, scoring eight of the final 10 points to take a 27-20 advantage into the second quarter. Crawford's trey with 5.9 ticks to go capped the scoring in the first stanza.
The Trail Blazers then rattled off the first eight points in the second quarter, claiming a 35-22 advantage on Thomas' mid-range jumper. The lead got as high as 15 points and stood at 43-32 after 24 minutes of game action.
Just like the second period, Portland jumped out strong to increase its lead in the third quarter. Matthews' three and Gerald Wallace's layup completed a quick 7-0 burst for a 50-32 edge. The Clippers responded with the next eight, but couldn't get closer than the 60-52 margin they faced entering the fourth quarter.
It didn't take long for the Clippers to make things interesting, drawing within 66-64 on Paul's layup with just over five minutes to go and taking the lead just over a minute later on Williams' trey. Paul followed with a three- pointer to cap an 8-0 burst, and the margin grew to 72-67 with 1:05 to play on a Paul pull-up jumper.
Matthews kept Portland in the game with a tough trey, but Williams calmly sank two free throws for a 74-70 game with 18.7 seconds remaining and the Clippers hung on from there.
Game Notes
The Clippers made just 38.5 percent of their shots, but Portland wasn't any better, making 38 percent of its shots and scoring just 28 points in the second half...The Clippers had lost six of their last seven contests with Portland before Thursday's win.
<< Stars nip Flames in OT
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Ribeiro's goal in overtime sent the Stars
to a 3-2 win over the Flames on Thursday.
Adam Burish and Steve Ott scored in regulation while Ribeiro added an assist,
helping the Stars halt a three-game skid.
<< Duke rallies past NC State
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Duke is becoming quite good at this comeback
thing.
Seth Curry scored 26 points and Austin Rivers added 16, including the go-ahead
three-pointer with 2:26 to play, as No.5 Duke rallied from a double-dig
<< Boozer and Bulls rally over Boston
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Boozer scored 23 points, grabbed 15
rebounds and dished out five assists, and the Chicago Bulls utilized a late
12-0 run to take down the Boston Celtics, 89-80, at United Center.
Luol Deng and
<< Kane leads Jets past Wild in shootout
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evander Kane scored twice in regulation and
the winner in the shootout to lift the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-3 win over the
Minnesota Wild.
In the fourth round, Dany Heatley was stopped by Chris Mason and
Smith, Coyotes blank Kings >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Smith posted 28 saves for his fourth
shutout of the season as the Phoenix Coyotes edged the Los Angeles Kings, 1-0,
at Staples Center.
Radim Vrbata scored the only goal of the game for the Coyote
Stepanek ousted, Anderson advances in San Jose >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former champion Radek Stepanek was a
second-round upset victim Thursday at the $531,000 SAP Open.
Belgian Steve Darcis bounced the fourth-seeded Czech 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2)
on the hardcourts at H
Webb leads by two as weather halts play in Thailand >>
Chonburi, Thailand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Karrie Webb was six-under par through 14
holes Friday when play at the Honda LPGA Thailand was suspended for the day
due to inclement weather.
Webb had climbed to 10-under for the week, but will have to
Whiteford two clear in India >>
New Delhi, India (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peter Whiteford carded a four-under 68
Friday to grab a two-stroke lead after two rounds of the Avantha Masters.
Whiteford, a first-round co-leader, completed 36 holes at 10-under-par 134. He
is searching
Kansas City, MO - Kansas City has not officially named Matt Cassel its starting quarterback, but there can be no doubt now.
NFL Betting
After praising his leadership and work ethic through spring workouts, the Chiefs announced Tuesday they had signed the 27-year-old Cassel to a multiyear contract. Terms were not disclosed, but he will almost certainly be one of the highest-paid members of the team.
"We are excited to be able to reach a long-term agreement for Matt Cassel to be a Kansas City Chief for many years to come," owner and board chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement. "His proven leadership on and off the field will be a tremendous asset to the organization."
Patriots made him their franchise player, meaning his salary for this season will be about $15 million.
New head coach Todd Haley, taking over for Herm Edwards after a 2-14 season, refused to name a starter at any position during offseason workouts. But it was obvious to everyone the team belonged to Cassel.
"I go out there each and every day with that focus that I'm the starter," Cassel said during a June minicamp. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
The signing will come as welcome news to Cassel's new coaches and teammates. Amiable and hardworking, online football betting he appeared to win over everyone at minicamp.
"I think he's got some unique leadership qualities. I think his teammates like him and have respect for him. I think he's doing a pretty good job on the field, too," Haley said last month. "He's doing everything that I'm asking him, that our coaches are asking him to do. I don't have one single complaint how he's carrying himself."
After one workout, wide receiver Devard Darling declared Cassel "a breath of fresh air."
"He has a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. It's good for us," said Darling. "We trust in him that he's going to go out there and lead us all the way."
nse to accommodate his specific abilities.
Trapped on the bench behind Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and then unable to unseat Super Bowl MVP Brady at New England, Cassel seemed destined to be a backup all his life. As Brady was helped off the field last September, Cassel seized the opportunity he'd been waiting for since high school.
In his only sustained action since his teens, he hit 349 of 555 passes for 3,949 yards at New England. He had 23 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions as the Patriots, who had gone unbeaten through the regular season the year before, finished 11-5 and out of the playoffs.
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who had been Bill Belichick's assistant in New England, engineered the trade after the Patriots became convinced that Brady would recover fully from his knee operation.
"Since Matt arrived in Kansas City, he has embraced the team and the community," Pioli said. "His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players."
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.
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.
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