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Jazz close out stretch in Oklahoma CityBasketball Betting Lines02/14/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah just might be a sitting duck when it finishes a grueling three games in three nights road stretch tonight in Oklahoma City. The Jazz lost to the Thunder, 101-87, in Salt Lake City last Friday and has played two games since, a 98-88 win in Memphis on Sunday and an embarrassing 86-80 setback to the lowly Hornets in New Orleans on Monday. Al Jefferson had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds vs. New Orleans while Derrick Favors also scored 14 for the Jazz, who have lost six of their last eight games overall and fell to a Hornets team that had dropped eight straight and 23 of 25. Utah coach Tyrone Corbin benched Jefferson and fellow starters Devin Harris, Raja Bell and Paul Millsap for the entire fourth quarter. "It's absolutely [disappointing]," Corbin said. "It's everything I thought it wouldn't be, it happened tonight. We thought we could just show up and win the ballgame." "I thought we came out and played pretty well early. Surprisingly, it fell apart on us," Bell added. The Thunder, meanwhile, have been resting since topping the Jazz last week behind All-Star Russell Westbrook's game-high 28 points. Fellow All-Star Kevin Durant added 19 points and Serge Ibaka contributed a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds as the Western Conference-leading Thunder won three of their last four games to wrap up a five-game road trip with a 3-2 record. "We have always been a good bounce-back team after a loss," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks, who earned the right to coach the Western Conference at the All-Star Game later this month with the win. "Tonight was a good indication of how we play. We didn't have a lot of things going for us early. We were turning the ball over, but we fought, we stuck together and we competed." OKC has won six straight on its home floor and is a stellar 9-1 at Chesapeake Energy Arena this season while Utah fell to 3-8 on the road with last's night setback in NOLA. The Thunder haven't started 10-1 at home since they were the Seattle SuperSonics back in 2004-05. "It's just good to be home in our own house, our own city," Brooks told the Thunder's website. "We're going to be home for a while. That doesn't guarantee victories. We still have to work on a lot of the things that we need to improve and play with good energy, but it's nice to be in front of our home crowd for a while." Oklahoma City, which plays six of its next seven at home, has won four consecutive games over the Jazz overall.
<< Lin leads Knicks into Toronto
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Linsanity goes north of the border this evening when Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks shoot for a sixth straight win against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre. One night after netting a career-best 38 points
<< Bulls open homestand against Kings
<< Rockets wrap up road trip in Memphis
<< Spurs resume lengthy trek vs. Pistons
<< Heat finish hectic stretch in Indy
Suns, Nuggets clash at Pepsi Center >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver halted one losing streak on the road in its last outing and will now try to stop its longest skid at home in nearly a decade when they play host to the Phoenix Suns. Ty Lawson scored 27 points on Saturday
Blazers try to halt home skid vs. Wizards >>
Hawks commence trek against Lakers >>
Devils try to bounce back in Buffalo >>
Blues roll into Columbus >>
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 football betting 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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