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Blazers kick off road trip vs. NetsBasketball Betting Lines02/23/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers have been teetering along the playoff line and will try to stay in the hunt when they commence a five-game road trip Tuesday against the woeful New Jersey Nets at the IZOD Center. The Blazers are one game ahead of New Orleans for the eighth and final postseason berth in the Western Conference, and will also visit the Raptors, Bulls, Timberwolves and Grizzlies on the road swing. They are 13-13 away from the Rose City this season. Portland has dropped two straight and four of its last six games, including a 93-89 decision in overtime versus the Utah Jazz on Sunday in the finale of a three-game homestand. Brandon Roy had 23 points for Portland, which went 1-2 on the residency and got 17 points from Andre Miller. Miller is averaging 17.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 6.7 assists since January 2. "You've got to play the game the right way for 48 minutes. Regardless of what the score is, whether you're up 20 or down 20, you've got to play together. You've got to execute," said a dejected Blazers coach Nate McMillan. "If we are serious about really making a run, we've got to act like it and we've got to play like it." LaMarcus Aldridge ended with 15 and 10 rebounds in defeat, and is posting team highs of 19.9 points and 9.4 rebounds in his last 20 games. He has scored 15 or more points in each of the last 17 games, the longest such stretch of his career. New Jersey will continue its miserable season Tuesday in the finale of a four- game homestand. The Nets have lost the first three contests of the residency and dropped a 104-94 decision to the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday, as Brook Lopez finished with 26 points and nine rebounds in a losing effort. Lopez is the only player in the NBA to average at least 19.0 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.93 blocks, and is ranked third among all NBA centers in scoring at 19.1 ppg. "We continue to make the same mistakes," said Devin Harris, who posted 17 points and 13 assists. "Until we learn from it, it's going to be tough to try to win these games. We got to be better." Yi Jianlian and Courtney Lee had 15 and 12 points, respectively, for the Nets, who fell to 5-51 on the season and are still on pace to threaten the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers' 9-73 mark for futility. New Jersey has lost seven in a row at home and is only 3-24 as the host this season. Portland recorded a 93-83 win over New Jersey back in November 25 at the Rose Garden and has won the last four meetings in the series. The Blazers are unbeaten in their last three visits to the Meadowlands.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Durant leads his red-hot Oklahoma City Thunder against the Phoenix Suns tonight in a battle of Western Conference contenders at the Ford Center. The Thunder, who are one-half game ahead of Phoenix for the fi
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade is expected to miss his third straight game tonight, when the Minnesota Timberwolves invade south Florida for a showdown at AmericanAirlines Arena. Wade has missed back-to-back contests because
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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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