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Durant, Thunder face Spurs in Alamo CityBasketball Betting Lines02/24/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The winning streak is over for young star Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder, who will try to get back on track Wednesday with a road test against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. Oklahoma City's nine-game winning streak was halted in last night's 104-102 home loss versus the Phoenix Suns. Jason Richardson's basket with 0.7 seconds remaining in the game sealed the win for the Suns, while Durant poured in 36 points and has now scored at least 25 points in 29 straight games. Durant, the leading scorer in the NBA with 29.9 ppg, continues to inch closer to legend Michael Jordan, who scored 25-plus points in 40 straight games during the 1986-87 season. "Well, we had a nice run going and there's nothing to be ashamed of," said Thunder head coach Scott Brooks, whose team went 0-for-10 down the stretch. "We stubbed our toe tonight. I liked the way our guys fought. We didn't have our good stuff defensively and we were down early and we battled back and took a 10-point lead. We had a good run. They made plays. They made some big plays, big shots down the stretch." Russell Westbrook finished with 21 points and 10 assists, while Jeff Green added 16 points and six rebounds in defeat. Westbrook is averaging 24.6 points in his last three games. Oklahoma City, the sixth seed in the West, has won five straight road games and is 17-11 away from the Ford Center this season. The Spurs are back home after their Rodeo Road Trip to start the month and went 4-4 on the excursion. They lost the last two tests of the swing and are coming off Sunday's 109-101 overtime loss in Detroit. Future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan registered 29 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio, which played without guard Tony Parker because of a hip problem. Manu Ginobili and George Hill netted 21 and 17 points, respectively, in a losing cause. Over the last eight years since moving to the AT&T Center, the Spurs' combined record on the Rodeo Road Trip is 44-20. "Like many NBA games down the stretch you need to make shots and Detroit did. We shot poorly from three again and it made a difference for us. In the end it comes down to making shots down the stretch," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. Parker is listed as questionable tonight against Oklahoma City. The Spurs sit 3 1/2 games off the lead in the Southwest Division and seventh in the conference standings. They will try to work on their 19-10 home mark tonight. The 2009-10 season series between the Spurs and Thunder is tied at a game apiece, but San Antonio has won 20 of the last 27 meetings between the clubs.
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Bristol, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bears have reportedly hired former Seattle general manager Tim Ruskell to be their director of player personnel. ESPN.com is announcing that the deal will be made official in the next 48 hours
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Double-double machine Dwight Howard will try to power the Orlando Magic to another victory tonight in the opener of a brief two-game road trip against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center. Howard leads the NBA with 45
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Betting the NFL preseasonRule 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. |
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