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Hawks hope to snap road skid in WashingtonBasketball Betting Lines04/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The third seed in the Eastern Conference is still up for grabs and the Atlanta Hawks seized control of it on Friday. Tonight, the Hawks hope to move closer to securing that goal when they visit the hapless Washington Wizards. Jamal Crawford finished with 25 points to lead a balanced attack last night, as Atlanta got back on track with a 107-101 victory over the Toronto Raptors. Josh Smith had 17 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks for the Hawks, who had dropped their last two but used a 27-of-30 performance from the foul line Friday to take the win. It was Atlanta's 50th victory of the season, a milestone the team hadn't reached since 1997-98. The win also put the Hawks into sole possession of third place in the Eastern Conference, a game ahead of Boston, which lost to Washington on Friday. Atlanta also holds the tiebreaker over Boston by virtue of sweeping the season series. "It feels good," Smith said. "When we first started out, the goal was to win 50-plus games. Some people laughed, it really didn't matter. We knew that we had the talent in order to make 50-plus wins." Joe Johnson added 18 points and seven assists in the win, while Al Horford had 15 rebounds to go with 12 points. The Hawks had 45 points in the second quarter. Playing on the road hasn't been kind to Atlanta recently, however. The Hawks have dropped six straight away from Dixie but Washington may be the tonic for that. Atlanta has won eight straight over the Wiz and are shooting to sweep the season series for a second straight year tonight. The Wizards, meanwhile, played spoiler in Beantown last night when Andray Blatche poured in 31 points and came down with 11 rebounds as Washington snapped a six-game skid against Boston with a 106-96 triumph at TD Garden. Shaun Livingston added 25 points and seven assists for Washington, which was swept in three games last season by Boston and was in danger of a four-game whitewash this season, but the Wizards dominated the playoff-bound Celtics on Friday. "We pulled it out, we hung on," Wizards coach Flip Saunders said. "We kept it interesting, kept the people in their seats a little. But like I said a young team, we play extremely well for a lot of that game at both ends." Nick Young scored 19 and JaVale McGee added 14 points and 11 boards for the Wizards, who won for the fourth time in six contests since a 16-game losing streak.
<< Sabres visit Senators in battle of playoff teams
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of playoff teams will meet tonight in Canada's capital city as the Ottawa Senators host the rival Buffalo Sabres at Scotiabank Place. The Northeast Division champion Sabres have secured at least the third seed in t
<< Pens hope to keep division title hopes alive against Thrashers
<< Devils continue quest for division title versus Islanders
<< Kings play host to Oilers
<< Bruins hope to claim playoff spot versus Hurricanes
Bobcats and Pistons tangle in Charlotte >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Charlotte Bobcats continue their march to the postseason Saturday when they welcome the Detroit Pistons to Time Warner Cable Arena. Two days after clinching the first postseason berth in franchise history the Bobcats
Nets and Pacers collide in Indy >>
Grizzlies host struggling Sixers >>
Bucks host Celtics in possible playoff preview >>
Mavs jockey for playoff position in Sacramento >>
Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game. Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta. "Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed." To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs.
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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