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03/13/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The red-hot Dallas Mavericks will try to stretch their season-high winning streak to 14 games tonight when they resume a four-game homestand against the woeful New York Knicks.
Dallas kept its longest winning streak of the season intact with a 96-87 victory in the opener of its residency against New Jersey on Wednesday, as All-Star Jason Kidd racked up 20 points and nine assists.
Caron Butler added 18 points for the Mavericks, who tied Cleveland for the NBA's longest winning streak this season. Rodrigue Beaubois donated 16 points, while Dirk Nowitzki was held to just 12 points on 3-of-16 shooting.
"This is a really good basketball team at home," said Nets coach Kiki Vandeweghe. "You've got to play a perfect game to beat them here."
Dallas, which is now just three games behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the top spot in the West, is now just four wins shy of equaling the franchise record run set in 2006-07 season.
"We're not thinking about the streak. We just want to get better every game. We want to win every game," Kidd told the Mavs' Web site.
The Knicks, meanwhile, fell to 0-2 on a five-game road trip last night in Memphis when ex-Knick Zach Randolph had 24 points and 11 rebounds, as the Grizzlies held on to take a 119-112 victory over New York.
Bill Walker had 21 points off the bench to pace the Knicks, who have lost four of their last five overall. Fellow reserves Toney Douglas and Al Harrington had 19 and 15 points, respectively, while David Lee ended with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
"Toney Douglas came in and did a great job, Bill Walker. You can't play the game without energy and hustle. You just can't do it," Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni said. "They came in and gave us that little bit...after we were down so many, it's hard to make it up."
New York has dropped eight straight and 15 of 16 to the Mavs, a record of futility that includes the biggest rout in Dallas franchise history, a 128-78 drubbing at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 24. Meanwhile, the Knicks haven't won in Big D this century, last recording a win in north Texas on Dec. 16 1999.
<< Nuggets press on without Karl in Memphis
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Nuggets continue their push to the postseason
without head coach George Karl tonight against a desperate Memphis Grizzlies
team.
The Nuggets played without Karl, who is undergoing radiation and chemotherapy
to
<< Surging Magic continue push towards postseason, visit Wizards
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The lowly Washington Wizards will continue playing out the
string tonight when they host Eastern Conference power Orlando.
The Wizards lost their sixth straight game last night in Auburn Hills when
Will Bynum provided a sp
<< Hawks welcome Pistons to Dixie
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The playoff bound Atlanta Hawks return to the cozy confines
of Philips Arena Saturday to take on a Detroit Pistons team headed for the NBA
Draft Lottery.
The Hawks salvaged the finale of their recent three-game road trip o
<< Blackhawks visit Flyers in afternoon clash
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One of the top teams in the Western Conference will head to
the East Coast today as the Chicago Blackhawks visit the Philadelphia Flyers
for an afternoon battle at Wachovia Center.
The Blackhawks have 93 points on the year
Habs and Bruins square off as playoff hopefuls >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens look to further their playoff
chances and defeat Boston for the fifth time in six meetings this year tonight
at the Bell Centre, while the Bruins hope to strengthen their hold on the
Eastern Conference'
Devils visit Islanders with first place in sight >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils will try to move into a first-place
tie in the Atlantic Division this evening when they take on the New York
Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.
The Devils picked up their second victory in a row last night
Coyotes hit the road to take on Hurricanes >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes will play their first road game in just
over a month this evening when they kick off a four-game swing versus the
Carolina Hurricanes at RBC Center.
The Coyotes are among the league leaders with 25 home
Red Wings aim to get back in playoff picture against Sabres >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Finally healthy, the Red Wings' offense has looked like a
dangerous unit that could give teams trouble in the playoffs. However,
Detroit still needs to get there first.
The Red Wings will try to leap into the eighth spot i
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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