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Bobcats hope to close out perfect homestand vs. Heat

Basketball Betting Lines

01/20/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A big reason for Charlotte's surprising turn-around this season has been their excellent play at home. The Bobcats will try to complete a perfect six-game homestand Wednesday versus Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Charlotte has won a franchise-record eight straight as the host and its 17-4 home record is the second best in the Eastern Conference and the fourth best in the NBA, behind only the Lakers (23-3), Nuggets (18-3) and Cavaliers (15-3). The Bobcats improved to 5-0 on the current residency with a 105-103 victory over Sacramento on Monday, as Gerald Wallace scored 28 points and Raymond Felton fell a rebound short of the franchise's first triple-double.

Felton ended with 17 points, a game-best 10 assists and nine rebounds for Charlotte, which has won eight of nine overall and is 17-10 over the last 27 games following a 3-9 start to the season.

"The game was way too close and it shouldn't have been. We had a 20-something- point lead and we should have never lost it, but we did. But we put a win out -- a win is a win. It was an ugly win," Felton said.

In injury news for the Bobcats, Wallace is questionable for Wednesday's game with a sprained left ankle. He is averaging 21.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.7 blocked shots and 1.6 steals in his past 17 contests.

Miami has won three of its last four games and is fresh off last night's 113-83 home victory versus the Indiana Pacers. Wade posted 25 of his 32 points in the first half and ended 12-of-20 from the floor to lead the way.

"My mid-range game is feeling pretty good, and my attacks to the basket are, too, so I just want to use it as a weapon," said Wade, who is averaging 32.0 points in his last four games. "It was a good team win before we go on the road."

Michael Beasley added 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Jermaine O'Neal contributed 10 points in the convincing win. The Heat will also pay a visit to the Washington Wizards on the quick trek and own a 9-9 mark away from south Florida this season.

The Bobcats will try to beat Miami for the second straight time this season after recording a 107-97 road triumph at AmericanAirlines Arena back on January 2. These two teams have split the previous 10 matchups in Charlotte.


<< Kings, Hawks clash in Dixie
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A leading candidate for the Sixth Man Award, Atlanta Hawks guard Jamal Crawford will try to get his team back in the win column Wednesday night versus the Sacramento Kings at Philips Arena. Crawford registered 12 points an

<< Roy scheduled to return as Blazers visit Sixers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers are expected to have Brandon Roy back in action when the team continues its present road trip with tonight's bout against the Philadelphia 76ers from the Wachovia Center. Roy, the Blazers' leadin

<< Dolphins home renamed again
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The stadium for the Miami Dolphins and the upcoming Super Bowl will again have a new name. On Wednesday, it was announced that the Dolphins have partnered with Sun Life -- a Canadian financial services fi

<< Struggling Oilers kick off homestand against Canucks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Edmonton Oilers begin a four-game homestand tonight at Rexall Place aiming to avoid a ninth straight loss overall and a fourth setback in a row to the Vancouver Canucks. The Oilers have lost 15 of their last 16 games,

<< Canadiens try to end slide versus Blues
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to avoid a third straight loss when they welcome the St. Louis Blues for tonight's interconference clash at Bell Centre. The Canadiens are coming off losses against Ottawa and the New York R

Pistons host reeling Celtics >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Celtics are starting to play like the rest of their Atlantic Division counterparts and will try to get on track Wednesday on the road against the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The division-leadi

Durant, Thunder visit Twin Cities to take on Wolves >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There is no better time than now to get the ball in Kevin Durant's hands. The young star for the Oklahoma City Thunder will try to shoot down another foe tonight, when the Minnesota Timberwolves welcome their Northwest Divisi

Bucks host Raptors in front end of home-and-home set >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A hurting Milwaukee Bucks team limps back to the Bradley Center tonight for its first home game in nearly two weeks, a matchup with the Toronto Raptors that will serve as the opener of back-to-back meetings between the clubs.

Surging Grizzlies visit Hornets >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zach Randolph is making a push for the upcoming All-Star Game and will try to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to their fifth straight win tonight against the New Orleans Hornets in the Big Easy. The Grizzlies completed a perfec

BYU hopes to continue home dominance in clash with Wyoming >>
Provo, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Winners of 16 straight home games, the 14th- ranked BYU Cougars try to extend their impressive run tonight as they entertain the Wyoming Cowboys in a Mountain West Conference showdown at the Marriott Center in Provo

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.

Online Sportsbook Football Betting

Colts give the ‘D’ its due

The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.

They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.

"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."

Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.

New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.

Not so sound on the ground

If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.

Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com

“We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star.

Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.

Brees says bring it on

Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites.

Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship.

Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game.

"I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time."

SportsBooks ready for a shootout

Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses.

“This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.”

New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts.

The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game.

“Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.”

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts US credit cards