Thunder continue road trip at Sacramento
Basketball Betting Lines
02/09/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder have been moving along quite steadily this season and will try to keep it that way when they resume a five-game road trip tonight against the Sacramento Kings.
Oklahoma City is coming off Tuesday's 119-116 victory over the Golden State Warriors in which Kevin Durant poured in a team-best 33 points on 13-of-27 shooting, grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out seven assists. Durant, who hit the go-ahead basket with 14.2 seconds left, has scored 30 or more points in five of his last seven games, averaging 31.4 ppg in that span.
Russell Westbrook also hit the 30-point mark with 31 points and James Harden provided 19 in a reserve role. The Thunder survived a 48-point performance by Warriors guard Monta Ellis and a triple-double from big man David Lee (25 p, 11 r, 10 a). Thunder head coach Scott Brooks was pleased with the effort.
"Our guys never gave up. We fought back and continued to believe in each other," Brooks said following his team's 15th win in 18 tries.
Daequan Cook scored 17 points for the Thunder, who have the league's best record at 20-5 and improved to 11-4 away from home this season. Oklahoma City will close out the journey Friday against the Utah Jazz. Thunder guard Thabo Sefolosha missed his sixth consecutive game with right foot soreness and is still out indefinitely.
The Northwest Division-leading Thunder are one of only four Western Conference teams (Denver, Minnesota and the LA Clippers) to boast a winning road record.
Sacramento is in the basement of the Pacific Division and had a season-high three-game winning streak come to an end with Tuesday's 86-84 loss at Minnesota. Marcus Thornton had a team-best 22 points and DeMarcus Cousins recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
"We had an opportunity for a shot but it didn't go down," said Sacramento head coach Keith Smart. "The players fought and played well enough to get back into the game after a really bad first quarter."
Kings rookie Jimmer Fredette scored 13 points as a reserve and Tyreke Evans posted 11 points for the Kings, losers in six of nine games. The Kings will close out the homestand Saturday versus Phoenix and are 6-4 as the host. Minnesota's Nikola Pekovic abused the Kings to the tune of 23 points and 10 rebounds, and earned the attention of Sacramento head coach Keith Smart.
"He is a man down there," Smart said of Pekovic. "He plays in the trenches where you have to play with a physical game and that young man has been playing well for over a week and a half now."
Cousins has recorded 17 double-doubles this season, third-most in the NBA this season (behind Kevin Love and Dwight Howard), and is averaging 19.7 ppg and 16.7 rpg in the last three, recording double-doubles in each contest. Cousins recorded 26 double-doubles as a rookie last season.
Sacramento lost all four meetings with the Thunder last season and is winless in the past six matchups between the teams. Oklahoma City has won nine of 10 and 10 of the last 13 encounters with the Kings. Durant is averaging 28.3 points in 14 career games against Sacramento.
The Kings have lost all five visits to Oklahoma City.
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Betting the NFL preseason
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.
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NFL ODDSTop Football Betting Free Agents to Change Teams
It’s time to see how the biggest NFL free agent signings will perform for their news teams. Some will work out and could be the difference that makes a difference in the win column.
We look at the best off-season signings and if they should influence your NFL betting this season. Julius Peppers – Peppers was the biggest prize available on the 2010 NFL free agent market and the Chicago Bears opened the bank to bring his talents to the south side.
Peppers is explosive, he can get around blockers and cause quarterbacks to lose their minds. We all remember the classic Peppers game last year against the Vikings where he hounded Brett Favre into his worst game of the season. Peppers joining the Bears could be the reason Favre retired for good Tuesday morning. In addition to Peppers, the Bears added Chester Taylor to back up Matt Forte, Forte didn’t have the same intensity in 2009 compared to 2008 and bringing in Taylor will challenge Forte to bring it every game or he’ll risk losing carries to Taylor.
Betting on the Bears is a good option this season because of Julius Peppers and to a lesser extent Taylor. Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens – The Cincinnati Bengals signed two former number one wide receivers to line up with Chad Ocho Cinco. Antonio Bryant had a huge season in 2008 catching 83 passes for over 1200 yards but regressed last season. Playing for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season was a large part of the regression, everyone was bad in TB last season.
Bryant should have a bounce back season if he can win the number two spot from Terrell Owens. If Bryant wins the number 2 WR spot, it will open up a completely new set of problems for the Bengals. If Owens is forced to the bench in favor of Bryant, his attitude will create trouble for Carson Palmer and head coach Marv Lewis. If Owens is the number two receiver, it means Bryant can’t live up to his past numbers and the Bengals are still limited in the passing game. NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. 2010 football betting lines for this can be found at this top online sportsbook. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense.
NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense. They signed away the Arizona Cardinals top linebacker Karlos Danby. In the past two seasons, Danby has totaled 228 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. The Dolphins are the forgotten team of the AFC East with the second longest odds to win the division but with the addition of Karlos Danby and a trade for WR Brandon Marshall makes the Miami Dolphins legitimate contenders in the AFC East and in the NFL’s Eastern Conference.
The Dolphins will make NFL wagering fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.
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