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03/06/2010 - Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Beasley scored 22 points and spurned a game-winning burst in the final minutes, helping Miami claim a 100-94 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at American Airlines Arena.
Beasley tallied the final seven points of an 8-0 run that put the Heat in front, 98-92, with 46.8 seconds to play in the game. His three-pointer from the corner finished the burst and essentially sealed the victory.
Dwyane Wade recorded a game-high 38 points and had 10 assists for Miami, which has won three straight following a four-game slide. Saturday's victory also marked the first three-game home winning streak the team has had all season.
Quentin Richardson provided 22 points and 11 boards for the Heat, while nobody else had more than five points.
Jamal Crawford scored 24 points off the bench to lead Atlanta, which had a four-game win streak snapped. The Hawks have historically struggled in southern Florida, losing 26 of their last 30 games in Miami, including playoffs.
Joe Johnson provided 20 points, while Josh Smith had 17 in defeat.
Al Horford, who finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, drilled a shot with 3:40 left in the fourth to put the Hawks up by one, but the Heat responded with the following eight points to wrap up the win.
After a Wade free throw, Beasley made three straight shots to give the hosts an insurmountable 98-92 advantage. Johnson attempted to get Atlanta back in it but missed two three-point attempts.
The Hawks grabbed a 27-22 lead after the first quarter, but Wade's acrobatic three-pointer at the halftime buzzer got the Heat to within 56-52 at the break.
Atlanta took its largest lead of the night after a pair of Marvin Williams free throws provided a 68-56 margin four minutes into the third. Wade responded with a pair of threes during an 8-0 burst that cut the deficit to four, and he later added a dunk and two free throws to tie the game at 70 with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.
A pair of Smith baskets gave the visitors a 77-76 lead heading into the fourth, and the game remained close up until the final moments.
Game Notes
Atlanta fell to 15-15 on the road, while Miami improved to 17-14 at home...The Heat won the season series, 3-1...The Hawks will finish a three-game road trip with visits to New York and Washington...Each team had 45 rebounds...Miami committed only six turnovers, compared to 13 for Atlanta.
<< Stamkos nets 40th as Bolts jolt Thrashers
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steven Stamkos scored a pair of goals including
his 40th of the season, and extended his franchise-record point streak to 16
games, as Tampa Bay downed Atlanta, 6-2, at St. Pete Times Forum.
Martin St. Louis
<< Murray State captures OVC title with win over Morehead State
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Isaiah Canaan scored 16 points to lead a
balanced Murray State attack, and the Racers clinched a spot in the NCAA
Tournament with a 62-51 win over Morehead State in the championship game of
the Ohi
<< No. 12 Butler reaches Horizon final
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Howard had 18 points to lead five
players in double figures, as 12th-ranked Butler downed Milwaukee, 68-59, in a
chippy Horizon League semifinal tilt at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Ronald Nored collected 1
<< Kessel nets SO winner as Leafs nip Sens
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Kessel got the game-winner in the shootout
to help the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators at
Scotiabank Place.
After Jonas Gustavsson stoned Alex Kovalev on the first shot, Kes
Parker breaks hand; Spurs top Grizzlies >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spurs forward Richard Jefferson poured in 18
points and pulled down six rebounds off the bench, but San Antonio lost guard
Tony Parker to a hand injury in a 102-92 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Parker
Spurs' Parker breaks bone in hand >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Antonio guard Tony Parker broke a bone in
his right hand during the Spurs' 102-92 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on
Saturday.
Parker, the team's second-leading scorer, suffered a fractured f
Nets rally from 16-down early, throttle Knicks >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Devin Harris recorded a season-high 31 points
on 13-of-21 shooting to help the New Jersey Nets to just their seventh win of
the season, 113-93 against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Courtney
Hantuchova moves into final at rainy Monterrey Open >>
Monterrey, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Daniela Hantuchova
outlasted fourth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the semifinals Saturday at the
$220,000 Monterrey Open.
Hantuchova of Slovakia battled from a set down to beat
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.
While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.
For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.
1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.
2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.
How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.
Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.
Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.
How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).
Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.
Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on college football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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