Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
02/21/2007 - Sacramento, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Martin scored 22 points as the Kings held off a late Boston rally to beat the Celtics, 104-101, and continued their domination in the series.
Ron Artest contributed 18 points, eight rebounds and four steals for Sacramento, which snapped a three-game skid, but beat the Celtics for the 12th time in the last 14 meetings. The Kings beat Boston for the 11th straight time at home.
"We're hustling off the bench and playing good defense," Sacramento's Francisco Garcia said.
Paul Pierce had 26 points for Boston, which was back to its old tricks in the first game after the All-Star break. The Celtics ended a franchise-record 18- game losing streak with a victory against Milwaukee last Wednesday, but couldn't overcome the Kings and lost their ninth straight on the road.
Delonte West added 23 with six rebounds and seven assists for the Celtics, but his three-point shot at the buzzer came up short.
Brad Miller, who played in his first game since February 8, hit two free throws with 1:37 left that represented the game's final points. Artest then blocked a shot from Al Jefferson, but Martin missed a jumper with nearly a minute remaining.
Rajon Rondo then missed a jumper and a follow shot for the Celtics, and Brian Scalabrine failed to save the ball in bounds, giving it back to the Kings with 45.7 seconds left.
John Salmons and Artest missed three-pointers on the other end, and West then raced up the court, but his shot fell shy of the basket.
"Del made a good choice because he did see an opening," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "He actually had a good look."
Miller ended with 12 points, Kenny Thomas 11 and Mike Bibby 10 for the Kings.
Jefferson had 15 points and 15 rebounds, while Ryan Gomes scored 10 before fouling out for Boston.
The Kings led 34-26 after one quarter, but Boston rallied to close the gap in the second. Sebastian Telfair's three-pointer had the Celtics within 55-51 and it was 66-62 in favor of the home team at the half.
A Pierce three had the Celtics within 68-67, but Boston could never take the lead in the final 24 minutes. Miller's two free throws capped 12 straight Sacramento points for an 89-71 margin with 3:42 left in the quarter.
It was 91-81 going into the fourth and it was 102-94 with 6:05 left before the Celtics rallied to get within one at 102-101 on Rondo's jumper with 1:57 to go.
Game Notes
Boston is 0-8 against the Pacific Division...The last time the Celtics defeated the Kings on the road was on February 16, 1996...Boston's last road win was January 5 against Memphis...Gerald Green, who won the NBA All-Star dunk title on Saturday, was limited to four points. He had five fouls...Miller had been out with a partially torn fascia in his left foot...Boston's Wally Szczerbiak sprained his left ankle...The Kings now head to the road for four games in five nights against Washington, New Jersey, Indiana and Philadelphia.
<< Happy Returns: Nash leads Phoenix over Clips
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Nash scored 13 points and dished out
12 assists before spending a large chunk of the second half enjoying his
return to the lineup from the bench, as Phoenix cruised from the outset in a
115-90
<< Billups leads Pistons past Bucks
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chauncey Billups scored 19 points, as the
Detroit Pistons held on for an 84-83 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Milwaukee's Mo Williams missed a driving layup in the final seconds of
regulation, and
<< Third-quarter drought dooms Hawks
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta went through the definition of futile
in the third quarter, ending the period without a field goal, as the Chicago
Bulls widened a halftime edge and rolled to a 106-81 rout of the Hawks at the
United
<< No. 23 Louisville explodes in second half to crush St. John's
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Angel McCoughtry scored 21 points and ripped
down 14 rebounds as 23rd-ranked Louisville crushed Big East foe St. John's,
91-62.
Helen Johnson also scored 21 points while Jazz Covington tallied 17 for t
Sharks hope to end skid vs. struggling Caps >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of struggling teams meet this evening in the
nation's capital, where the Washington Capitals host the San Jose Sharks at
the Verizon Center.
The Capitals have dropped four games in a row, while the Sharks come into
Louisville seek 20th victory of the season >>
Louisville, KY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 20th-ranked Louisville Cardinals gun for
their fourth straight win tonight, as they host the St. John's Red Storm
in Big East play from Freedom Hall.
The Cardinals moved into the Top-25 this
Red-hot Cavs take on Hurricanes in Sunshine State >>
Coral Gables, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A set of teams at completely different
ends of the ACC standings collide at the BankUnited Center tonight, as
the 24th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers take on the Miami-Florida Hurricanes.
The C
Tide rolls into Knoxville >>
Knoxville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 25th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and
Tennessee Volunteers will do battle in an SEC contest tonight in
Knoxville.
Alabama carried a two-game losing skid into Saturday's game a
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.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting