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Kings, Lakers collide at Staples CenterBasketball Betting Lines01/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Lakers will resume a four-game homestand Friday versus the Pacific Division-rival Sacramento Kings at Staples Center. The Lakers are a dangerous at home as evidenced by their 17-3 record in Hollywood, and opened the residency with a 124-118 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. Kobe Bryant had season highs of 44 points and 11 assists to lead Los Angeles, which is just 2-2 in its last four games overall since a five-game winning streak. "The guy is amazing," Warriors head coach Don Nelson said of Bryant. "To be able to shoot like that with finger problems that he has on his shooting hand, it's amazing. Sixteen free throws for 16 and to take a game over like that, make jump shots, that guy is amazing." Bryant made 16-of-16 free throws to help the Lakers rebound from a loss Monday at Phoenix. Pau Gasol added 27 points and 12 rebounds in the recent victory, while Lamar Odom ended with 11 points and 11 boards. LA will also host the Mavericks and Rockets on the homestand. Lakers forward Ron Artest (concussion/lacerated left elbow) is questionable for Friday's game. Artest has missed the last three games. Sacramento went 1-3 on a four-game homestand and will hit the road to Los Angeles tonight. It is 3-11 away from California's capital this season and suffered a 116-106 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday. Omri Casspi and Donte Greene each scored 21 points for the Kings. Jason Thompson added 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Sergio Rodriguez also scored 15 points in the loss. "We had a chance early on to build a nice lead and dictate the way the game was going to be played," said Kings head coach Paul Westphal. On the injury front for Sacramento, rookie guard Tyreke Evans (ankle) is listed as questionable against the Lakers. Evans has missed two straight games and is averaging 20.3 points per game this season. The Lakers defeated the Kings, 112-103, in double overtime on December 26 this season, as Bryant poured in a game-high 38 points. The Lakers have won three straight and six of the last seven meetings with Sacramento, which has lost three straight at the Lakers.
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTINGNCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking. No. 1 always seems to fit USC. Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent. Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory. Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3. "We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team." Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time. "Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team." The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points. "I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won." Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State. "There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?" USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll. "It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter." While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls. As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule. But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference. Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com. The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road. The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second. The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia. No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday. Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee. Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina. Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson. The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996. South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20. The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24. Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com |
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