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Lakers aim to continue dominance over Jazz at Staples CenterBasketball Betting Lines05/04/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Utah Jazz will try to avoid falling in a 2-0 series hole when they face the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers tonight in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals at Staples Center. Los Angeles survived in Game 1 when Kobe Bryant took over in the fourth quarter. The Lakers superstar scored 31 points, including 13 in the final six minutes, as LA captured a 104-99 victory. Bryant went 12-of-19 from the field and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line for the Lakers, who have beaten Utah 15 straight times at Staples Center, including the postseason. "We put ourselves in a little bit of a hole," Bryant said. "Our second unit has to play better. It got really tough sitting on the bench, so I had to check myself back into the game. We had to buckle down in the fourth quarter." Winning a series' opening game is also crucial for Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, whose teams are a perfect 45-0 when coming out victorious in Game 1. Jackson also eclipsed legendary Los Angeles coach Pat Riley for most postseason wins in franchise history with his 103rd as the Lakers' head man. "(Utah is) a good offensive team," Jackson said. "They're playing undermanned right now, but they're playing as a team. We found a way to get the momentum back in the last six minutes. We anticipate that this will be a physical series." Pau Gasol added 25 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks for the Lakers, who are 57-7 all time in series when winning Game 1. Derek Fisher added 10 points in the win while Andrew Bynum, who was questionable with a a small tear in his right meniscus, recorded eight points and 10 boards in 25 minutes. Los Angeles also improved to 4-0 at home this postseason and is a gaudy 67-13 all-time at Staples Center in the playoffs. Deron Williams, despite playing with a bruised left elbow, had 24 points and eight assists to pace the Jazz, who made only one field goal in the final four minutes, as they were outscored by a 15-6 margin in that stretch. Carlos Boozer contributed 18 points and 12 boards, while Paul Millsap and C.J. Miles each had 16 points in defeat. "A good effort by us, except for the slow start," Williams said. "I'm happy with the way we played. We had a chance to win the game, but we couldn't get stops. We're going to have to play better defense and make life a little harder for them." Wesley Matthews scored 14 points for Utah, which is toiling without two starters, center Mehmet Okur and forward Andrei Kirilenko, and last won on the road over the Lakers on Jan. 1, 2006 "We had a terrible start and got ourselves in a hole," said Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan. "We finally got back into the game when we started to do the things we're supposed to do. (The Lakers are) a very smart team and get what they want most of the time. We have to toughen up; we have to be more forceful." Okur is done for the season with a ruptured left Achilles' but Kirilenko, who missed 15 of the Jazz's final 17 regular season games, the entire opening round against Denver and Game 1 of this set with a host of calf injuries, has been rehabbing and is getting closer to playing. "I'm feeling better and better," Kirilenko told the Salt Lake City News over the weekend. "[My] endurance is getting better. I can survive way more time on the floor without getting my calf tired, so I feel like it's going in the right direction, better and better." The Lakers beat the Jazz in three of the four meetings during this regular season and this is the third straight year the teams are meeting in the playoffs. The Lakers beat Utah in five games in the first round last year and in 2008, LA prevailed in six games in the conference semifinals. The Jazz are trying to avoid becoming the 14th team in NBA history to be eliminated by the same team in three consecutive playoffs. Game 3 in the series shifts to Salt Lake City on Saturday.
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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit CardsMichael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football. As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL. The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago. Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996). But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side. Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show. Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East: Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1 Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2 New York Giants - 9 - 2 Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1). Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship. So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume. And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top. They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy. Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday. But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division. Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS. Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS. Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162. Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense? Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS. In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS. Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division. Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do. The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20. The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550. Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
FOOTBALL BETTING LINESNFL Football Sports BettingTwo playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers. New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count. New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend. His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates. HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game. The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup. RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day. First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08. The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition. These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years. New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5. You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff! Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines . |
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