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01/27/2012 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Temporarily, the Celtics may not have Rajon Rondo or Ray Allen in the lineup, but they still have Paul Pierce.
As the Pacers cut Boston's lead to two in the third quarter, Pierce put the team on his back, netting 17 of his 28 points in the stanza as the Celtics took down Indiana, 94-87, for their fourth straight win.
"We had unbelievable energy," Celtics head coach Doc Rivers said. "We thought the key was to force them into playing versus our half court defense. Thought we did that."
Pierce also added 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Celtics.
Rondo sat out his fifth consecutive game due to a wrist injury, while Allen missed his third straight contest with a jammed left ankle.
But Pierce has really stepped up in their absence, averaging 23.4 points, 8.2 assists and 6.4 rebounds over his last five outings -- including Friday night's game.
Danny Granger netted 21 points to lead the Pacers, who went 1-of-19 from beyond the arc.
Indiana, which came into Friday's game averaging 12.8 offensive rebounds per game, outrebounded the Celtics by just a 10-9 margin on the offensive glass.
"They're the number one offensive rebounding team in the league. We concentrated on that and got some second chance points ourselves," Pierce said.
An 8-2 Pacers spurt to start the second half, capped by David West's jumper, trimmed Boston's lead to 44-42.
But Pierce poured in nine points as the Celtics countered with a 15-4 run to increase the advantage back to double-digits, 57-46, midway through the third.
Boston took a 71-61 lead into the fourth.
"I like to come out in the 3rd quarter and be aggressive," Pierce said. "I focus on trying to get better as the game goes on."
The Celtics led by as many as 16 in the final stanza as the Pacers were unable to rally down the stretch.
Chris Wilcox had six points as Boston led 23-17 after the first quarter. The Pacers turned the ball over six times in the opening stanza.
Boston used a 10-0 run in between the first and second quarters to take a 27-17 advantage with 10:51 remaining in the half. Boston's bench provided the spark, going 4-for-4 from the field during the spurt.
West nailed a jumper at the first-half buzzer to cut Indiana's deficit to 42-34 heading into the locker room. Boston held Indiana to just 30 percent shooting from the floor in the opening half.
Game Notes
The Celtics snapped a three-game losing streak against the Pacers...Wilcox finished with 14 points and Kevin Garnett added 13 points and eight rebounds for Boston...Boston outrebounded Indiana 45-42.
<< Rockets soar past Wizards
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With leading scorer Kevin Martin out due to
plantar fasciitis in his right foot, the Rockets still didn't have a problem
handling the lowly Wizards on Friday night.
Chase Budinger returned from a three
<< Nets hold off Cavs
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Deron Williams recorded a double-double with
27 points and 10 assists as the Nets held off the Cavaliers 99-96 at Quicken
Loans Arena.
Kris Humphries, who left Friday's shootaround with an illness, fought
<< Short-handed Mavericks down Jazz
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rodrigue Beaubois scored a season-high 22 points
to power the short-handed Mavericks to a 116-101 win over Utah.
Lamar Odom added a season-best 19 points and Jason Terry scored 18 off the
bench for Dallas,
<< Hawks edge Pistons in OT
Auburn Hills, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Johnson scored 30 points, including a
game-tying three-pointer in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, to lead
the Atlanta Hawks to a 107-101 overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Marvin W
Fernandez leads Nuggets over Raptors >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rudy Fernandez poured in 23 points to lead four
teammates in double-figures as the Denver Nuggets topped the Toronto Raptors,
96-81 at Pepsi Center.
Danilo Gallinari dropped in 21 points and pulled down sev
Aldridge shines as Trail Blazers dominate Suns >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LaMarcus Aldridge scored 23 points, and
Portland dominated the middle two quarters in a 109-71 rout of the Phoenix
Suns.
Gerald Wallace tallied 17 points, Wesley Matthews 16 and Nicolas Batum 14 fo
Durant powers Thunder over Warriors >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Durant's double-double of a season-high
37 points and 14 rebounds powered the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 120-109
victory over the Golden State Warriors Friday night.
Russell Westbrook had a terr
Azarenka wins Australian Open women's title >>
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Victoria Azarenka became a first-time
Grand Slam titlist Saturday with a convincing straight-set victory over Maria
Sharapova in the Australian Open women's final.
The third-seeded Azarenka downed Shar
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.
JUPITER, Fla. -- The Foorida Marlins are preparing for the likelihood that right-hander
Josh Johnson won't be ready when the season starts April 2.
Grapefruit League action starts Wednesday, but Johnson, penciled in as the No. 2 starter, hasn't even thrown off a mound at full speed since September. He's experienced some soreness in his right forearm.
MySportsbook.com have the Marlins listed with baseball betting lines at +800 to win the NL East this season .
''You guys know the math. If he's not on the hill then he becomes an opening day roster issue,'' manager Fredi Gonzalez said Saturday. ''We're borderline now.''
Johnson, who finished 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 2007, was supposed to throw on flat ground Saturday. That was canceled when he woke up with pain.
He played catch on Wednesday with no pain but felt discomfort in a throwing session on Thursday. He's expected to try again Sunday.
''Like we always said from the very beginning, we're going to take it easy on him,'' Gonzalez said. ''He didn't feel right, so we shut him down. We're going to take it back to step one and see where we're at.''
Among the candidates to take Johnson's spot in the rotation are left-hander Chris George and right-handers Yusmeiro Petit and Jose Garcia.
Right-hander Sergio Mitre, who missed most of last season with arm and shoulder problems, also is behind.
With Johnson's status doubtful, Gonzalez said right-hander Ricky Nolasco will stay in the rotation and no longer will be considered a candidate for closer.
Additional basbeall odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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