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Lakers begin tough stretch in MilwaukeeBasketball Betting Lines01/28/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off halting a three-game skid, the Los Angeles Lakers will begin a tough stretch tonight in Milwaukee in which they will play eight of nine games on the road. Kobe Bryant netted 24 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists on Wednesday as the Lakers squeaked past the rival Clippers, 96-91, at Staples Center. Pau Gasol contributed a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds and Andrew Bynum had 19 points and six rebounds for the Lakers, who have now beaten the Clippers nine consecutive times when tabbed as the host. Rookie Andrew Goudelock had a career-high 14 off the bench and Metta World Peace dished out a season-high seven assists. "I thought our guys played a good game," Lakers head coach Mike Brown said. "We got a lot of production from a lot of different guys. The Clippers are a good team, they're athletic and they have a lot of talent. I applaud our guys for trying to defend out there." The Lakers, however, are just 1-6 away from SoCal so far and this stretch could very well define their season. After tonight's game LA will visit Minnesota before making a short stop home to face off with Charlotte. Brown's team will then hit the road for six straight starting in Denver. The Bucks, meanwhile, fell in Chicago on Friday, 107-100, after learning they would be without their best player, center Andrew Bogut, for up to three months. Bogut left Wednesday's game in Houston with what was originally called a left ankle sprain. However, Milwaukee general manager John Hammond confirmed that the big man fractured the ankle on Friday through the club's Twitter account. "This morning in Milwaukee, Andrew had additional diagnostic tests performed on his left ankle. The results of the testing confirmed a left ankle fracture which will keep Bogut sidelined for a period of 8-to-12 weeks." The Bucks stayed competitive against the mighty Bulls without Bogut but Derrick Rose proved to be too much in the end, pouring in a season-high 34 points to lead the Bulls. Brandon Jennings led Milwaukee with 25 points and seven rebounds, while Drew Gooden, replacing Bogut in the starting lineup, added 23 points and 15 boards. Jon Leuer added a season-high 19 points. Chicago really ratcheted up its defensive effort in the third quarter, forcing the Bucks to shoot just 7-for-23 (30.4 percent) in the frame. "They were coming out hard on the pick-and-rolls and doubling me a little bit more," Jennings said of the Bulls' defensive effort. "I wasn't able to come off the pick-and-roll like I was in the first half." Milwaukee snapped a six-game skid to the Lakers with a 98-79 win at Staples Center last season.
<< Grizzlies finish road trip in the desert vs. Suns
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Memphis Grizzlies hope to finish a four-game road trip on a winning note Saturday when they pay a visit to the struggling Phoenix Suns. The Grizzlies started their trek in a positive fashion, winning at Golden State b
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Eastern Conference's worst two teams square off for the second time this week Saturday when the Charlotte Bobcats play host to the Washington Wizards. The Bobcats are coming off an awful performance in Philadelphia on
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FOOTBALL TRASH TALKNFL Football Trash TalkTrash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing). Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion. Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site). Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com. Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season. The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation. What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill. Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies. But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply. In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton. MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting. "They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over." Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.) According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26. As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines). Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday. Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind. *UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007 New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results. "We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games." While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season." About MySportsbook.com Sports Casino Poker To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Master Card needs. |
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