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Mavs hope to rebound with Jazz in townBasketball Betting Lines01/27/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celebrations don't seem to be agreeing with the Dallas Mavericks and the reigning NBA champs are probably glad they can put the ceremonies in the rearview mirror as they get ready to host the Utah Jazz. The Mavs finally got their rings on Wednesday and followed that with a 105-90 setback to Minnesota. Dirk Nowitzki participated in the ceremony but not the loss, missing his third straight game with a sore knee. Jason Terry had a team-high 17 points and Shawn Marion chipped in 15, as the Mavericks' seven- game home win streak came to an end. Dallas also failed to extend a 15-game franchise record in which it held its opponent to under 100 points. For the Mavs, the scene was fairly reminiscent of Christmas Day, when the team unfurled its first-ever NBA championship banner to great excitement, then suffered a season-opening shellacking at the hands of the Heat. "I think we're all happy that we don't have any more ceremonies for our championship so we can just concentrate on basketball," said Mavs guard Jason Kidd. Dallas, which is 7-3 in North Texas this season, will finish up a four-game homestand against San Antonio on Sunday. When the Mavs originally sat Nowitzki his absence was pegged at four games, meaning he will sit out again tonight as he continues to rest his knee and work on his conditioning. The Jazz, meanwhile, are coming off a tough double-overtime loss to Toronto on Wednesday. Andrea Bargnani and Linas Kleiza scored 25 points apiece in that one as the Raptors snapped a 12-game losing streak against Utah with a 111-106 win. It was Toronto's first win in the series since December 22, 2004. The back-breaker for the Jazz in the second overtime was Jose Calderon's three-pointer from 10 feet behind the arc to beat the shot clock, giving Toronto a six-point lead with 86 seconds left. The Jazz played without leading scorer Al Jefferson because of an inflamed right ankle, but still had an 18-point lead in the first quarter. "It's a tough loss for us because we know we should have won the game," said Paul Millsap, who scored 31 points. "(It fell apart) in the second quarter. Our defense was poor." Derrick Favors started for Jefferson and scored 16 with 12 rebounds. Raja Bell and C.J. Miles both had 11 points for Utah, which finished a four-game homestand at 2-2. Jefferson didn't practice Thursday and will be a game-time decision tonight. The Jazz have dropped five straight to the Mavs, including a 94-91 loss in Salt Lake City on Jan. 19. Utah has also lost two straight and 14 of its last 16 trips to Big D.
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Sportsbook Betting LinesWho 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 MadeThe 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 ChangeOnce 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. |
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