Bulls host streaking Nuggets
Basketball Betting Lines
03/22/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Nuggets attempt to win a season-high sixth straight game when they visit the Chicago Bulls tonight at the United Center.
Denver is tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for the sixth spot in the Western Conference playoff race, while the Bulls are No. 5 in the East.
The Nuggets play the second of a five-game road trip this evening. Carmelo Anthony scored 30 points and Denver tied a season-high with its fifth straight win, as Nuggets knocked off the New Jersey Nets, 94-90, on Tuesday at Continental Airlines Arena.
Allen Iverson finished with 20 points for the Nuggets, who won for the first time (1-21) when scoring under 100 this season. Marcus Camby registered 10 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots for Denver, which snapped a four- game skid against the Nets and won in New Jersey for the first time since March 26, 2000.
Denver is a respectable 15-14 on the road this season. The Nuggets will also visit Toronto, Cleveland and Detroit on the current swing.
Chicago has dropped two in a row and wraps up a short two-game homestand. Cuttino Mobley scored 25 points and Corey Maggette netted 22 to help the Clippers to a 103-89 victory over the Bulls on Tuesday at the United Center.
Kirk Hinrich had 29 points in the loss to the Clippers, while Ben Wallace finished with a season-high 19 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists for Chicago, which has lost two in a row after a four-game winning streak.
The Bulls are 25-9 at home this season. They are scheduled to visit the Indiana Pacers on Sunday at Conseco Fieldhouse.
This is the second and final meeting of the season between the clubs. On November 21st, J.R. Smith scored 36 points to lead the Nuggets to a 113-109 win over the Bulls at the Pepsi Center.
Denver has won two of three and four of its last six at Chicago. A win tonight would give the Nuggets a sweep of the season-series for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets attempt to make it five straight wins tonight when they host the Central Division-leading Detroit Pistons tonight at the Toyota Center. Detroit leads the Cleveland Cavaliers by three games for the top s
<< Ducks shoot for club history in Phoenix
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Anaheim Ducks take aim at a pair of franchise records
when they take the ice tonight against the basement-dwelling Phoenix Coyotes
at Jobing.com Arena.
Anaheim established club single-season bests of 43 victories and
<< Rock vs. Jock series highlights week 4 in AFL
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Soul (2-0), co-owned by JON
BON JOVI, host the fifth version in the "Rock vs. Jock" series as they welcome
the Colorado Crush (2-1), co-owned by JOHN ELWAY, to the Wachovia Center on
Thursday, Ma
<< Streaking Wild welcome the Blues
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild put their franchise-record win streak on
the line tonight at the Xcel Energy Center, where the scorching club welcomes
the St. Louis Blues for the first time this season.
Minnesota has ripped off victori
<< Red Wings head home to face Jackets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Red Wings hope a return home will enable them
to break out of a recent funk, as the Central Division contenders begin a
stretch of three consecutive games at Joe Louis Arena tonight with a matchup
against the Colu
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The red-hot Atlanta Thrashers will try to extend their lead in the Southeast Division tonight, as they welcome the San Jose Sharks to Philips Arena. The Thrashers are closing in on the first-ever postseason bert
Penn State's Portland quits >>
State College, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rene Portland, who was recently fined by
Penn State for harassment of a player, resigned her position as head coach of
the women's basketball team on Thursday.
Penn State launched an investigation in
Knicks finish homestand against Trail Blazers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Knicks wrap up a four-game homestand this
evening when they welcome the Portland Trail Blazers to Madison Square Garden.
New York is 1-2 so far on the stand and suffered a 92-77 loss to the Dallas
Mavericks on
Kings, Suns meet in first of home-and-home set >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pacific Division champion Phoenix Suns finish a short
two-game homestand when they host the Sacramento Kings tonight at US Airways
Center.
This is the first of a home-and-home set. Sacramento will host the Suns on
Sun
Bruins start set with playoff-hopeful Canadiens >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens have improved their play recently
and hope to continue that trend tonight, when they visit the Boston Bruins at
TD Banknorth Garden for the finale of a home-and-home series.
Earlier this month, t
2007 online football betting Preview
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
2007 College Football Betting Preview
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
Las Vegas Sports Lines
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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