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Spurs resume road trip against LakersBasketball Betting Lines02/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs face the toughest test of their annual Rodeo Road Trip when they face the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center tonight. Each year around this time the Spurs hit the road while the annual San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo takes over the AT&T Center. Gregg Popovich's team set up temporary residence in Hollywood on Saturday and improved to 2-1 on its season-long eight-game trek when George Hill scored 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, and the Spurs notched their 15th straight win over the Clippers with a 98-81 blowout win. Tony Parker added 14 points and 14 assists for the Spurs, who have not lost to the Clippers since March 7, 2006. Tim Duncan and Matt Bonner each contributed 11 points in the resounding victory. "It was important to come out and play better, and we did that," said Spurs forward Manu Ginobili. "George (Hill) has been a huge key for us; it's hard to imagine us not in the playoffs, so every win is important." Historically, the long trips have actually been very successful for San Antonio, which has compiled a 42-17 mark in the Rodeo Road Trips since the club moved into the AT&T Center. The Lakers, meanwhile, keep chugging along and improved to a Western Conference-best 39-13 on Saturday by dispatching the Trail Blazers, 99-82, in Portland on Saturday. Ron Artest poured in 21 points and Lamar Odom contributed 10 points and tied a career-best with 22 rebounds, as the Lakers overcame the absence of Kobe Bryant to win in the Rose City for the first time in nearly five years. The Lakers came into the game having lost nine in a row at the Rose Garden, but used a 47-30 rebounding advantage to end that skid. It was their first win in Portland since Feb. 23, 2005. Bryant, who is averaging 28 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists this season, sat due to a sprained left ankle, ending a string of 235 consecutive games played. The 12-time All-Star last missed a game on March 7, 2007, due to a suspension. "Kobe followed me in the coaches room and said 'I'm thinking about not playing' and I said 'it's OK if you don't,'" Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "I went back in and saw him 10 minutes later and he said 'yeah I think I should take it off' and so we did and went from there." Shannon Brown tallied 19 points and Derek Fisher scored 14 for LA, which also received 13 points and eight boards from Pau Gasol. The Lakers won for the sixth time in eight games and did it after losing center Andrew Bynum due to a hip injury. He didn't play in the second half. "It was a great effort, great teamwork and great outcome," Gasol said. "Obviously we don't like to see Kobe sitting out and he's been banged up, and then Andrew going down, we'll see what happens with them, but we reacted well, we just played hard and played together and the result was good, we won in a place that we haven't been able to play at all, or be successful at all." Bryant, who hasn't missed consecutive contests since missing the first two games of the 2006-07 season with a knee injury, is listed as day-to-day while Bynum is doubtful for tonight's contest. "I would say it (Kobe's injury status) is day-to-day," Jackson Said. "We have an opportunity here with two games before the All-Star break and there is some time there if he does need to take a longer time, we're trying to give him the liberty to do that." The Lakers, who are a gaudy 24-4 at home, had an eight-game winning streak at Staples Center snapped in their last home encounter, a 126-113 setback to Denver on Friday. Meanwhile, San Antonio snapped a two-game skid to the Lakers with a 105-85 win in the Alamo City on Jan. 12.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Southwest Division-leading Dallas Mavericks will hit the road for three games starting with Monday's contest against the Golden State Warriors at ORACLE Arena. Dallas will also visit Denver and Oklahoma City on the roa
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Sportsbooks to bet on footballRecently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it. He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games. "Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote. He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games. Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk. Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible. Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines. Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy. With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season. Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas). And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.) The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors. While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger. Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under. One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it. Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami. What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5. That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well. MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple. "The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money. "At the end of the day, we liked the home team." So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams. In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish. MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover. The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing. Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed. MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards. |
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