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Bulls return home to face ClippersBasketball Betting Lines02/02/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls return to the cozy confines of the United Center shooting for their sixth consecutive win when they play host to the Los Angles Clippers. The Bulls began a season-long seven-game road trip by dropping their first two encounters but rebounded nicely, taking the final five stops on the trip. The team finished the trek in thrilling fashion on Friday when Luol Deng scored the game-tying bucket in the last second of regulation and finished with 26 points, and Chicago took advantage of an injury to Chris Paul to beat New Orleans in overtime, 108-106. The Bulls trailed by two after David West sank a layup with half a minute to play, but West's poor inbound pass for Paul late in the game led to Deng's layup with 0.2 seconds on the clock. Paul appeared to injure his left knee trying to track down West's pass and tried to play in overtime but was ineffective as he limped up and down the court. The Hornets had a chance for a game-tying bucket in the final seconds of overtime, but Darren Collison, filling Paul's role at the point, lost the ball to seal the Chicago victory. Derrick Rose added 18 points for the Bulls, while Joakim Noah recorded 18 rebounds and 13 points. "We showed some toughness and just found a way to get us to overtime," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. "In overtime we made some big plays. I'm proud of them for not giving up." The Clippers, meanwhile, fell to 1-5 on their season-long eight-game trip with a 114-89 blowout loss to Cleveland on Sunday. LeBron James scored 32 points -- 23 in a dazzling first quarter -- and added 11 assists in that one, as the Cavaliers set several offensive records early and routed the Los Angeles Clippers, 114-89. James and his team were unconscious in the first quarter, as the reigning MVP hit five of the team's 11 three-pointers in the opening 12 minutes. The 11 makes tied an NBA record for most in a quarter, as Cleveland went an astounding 16-of-21 from the field overall in the first stanza to tie a team record with 46 points. The Cavaliers, who won their season-high eighth straight game, finished the contest 16-of-27 from three-point range, falling one shy of the team record for most three-pointers in a contest. Baron Davis quietly had 30 points and seven assists for the Clippers. Eric Gordon contributed with 12 points, while DeAndre Jordan and Craig Smith each had 11 in defeat. "They hit some shots in that first quarter that I haven't seen in the 30 years I've been in the NBA," Clippers head coach Mike Dunleavy said. LA snapped a three-game skid to Chicago with a 104-97 triumph in Hollywood on Jan. 20.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The two worst teams in the Eastern Conference clash in north Jersey Tuesday as the woeful Nets play host to the reeling Detroit Pistons. The Nets followed up their fourth win of the season in the opener of a f
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The reeling Houston Rockets conclude a disastrous six-game homestand on Tuesday by facing one of the Western Conference's worst teams, the Golden State Warriors. The Rockets, who fell to 1-4 on their residency with a
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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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