Bryant leads Lakers past Warriors

Basketball Betting Lines

02/19/2009 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kobe Bryant scored 30 points and dished out nine assists as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to beat Golden State, 129-121, winning for the ninth time in 10 games.

Pau Gasol tallied 24 points and 13 rebounds for the Lakers, who moved to an NBA-best 44-10 record. Lamar Odom ended with 22 points and seven boards for Los Angeles, which beat Golden State for a fourth straight time.

Trevor Ariza scored 17, Josh Powell 16 and Derek Fisher 12 for the Lakers, who trailed most of the game before taking command late in the final quarter.

Bryant, coming off a lackluster 10-point performance in a home win over the Hawks on Tuesday, shot 9-of-22 from the field and missed two of his 12 foul shots. He also had two scintillating blocks.

Stephen Jackson totaled 24 points, six boards and nine assists for the Warriors, who had a three-game win streak broken. Corey Maggette had 24 points off the bench before fouling out, and Jamal Crawford scored 23. Anthony Randolph played a spirited game with 14 points and 12 assists in defeat.

Rony Turiaf's bucket expanded Golden State's lead to 109-105 with under five minutes remaining, but back-to-back three-pointers by Ariza started a game- changing 17-3 spurt. Odom's short shot gave LA the lead at 113-111, and his three-point play moved the margin to 116-112 with 2:47 left.

Bryant spun with the ball near the lane, stepped back and nailed a jumper from the right side for a 122-112 margin with 1:10 left to cap the spurt and in all intensive purposed, the Laker victory.

Golden State led 34-30 after the opening quarter and the Warriors were up 68-62 at the half. The hosts increased that lead to 86-76 midway through the third, but the Lakers rallied to tie later in the quarter before trailing 94-92 moving to the fourth.

Game Notes

Earlier Wednesday, the Lakers traded oft-injured center Chris Mihm to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for a conditional second round pick in the 2013 draft...Golden State shot 51.6 percent from the floor...Monta Ellis had 15 points and Turiaf 13 for the Warriors...Warriors head coach Don Nelson is one win away from recording his 1,300th victory as an NBA head coach. He will become only the second coach to reach this mark, trailing only Lenny Wilkins (1,332 wins), the all-time winningest head coach in NBA history.

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El Duque expected to throw Tuesday

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- New York Mets pitcher Orlando Hernandez, sidelined at spring training because of arthritis in his neck, is expected to resume throwing on Tuesday.

Hernandez received a cortisone shot Thursday after leaving camp and returning to New York to have his neck examined. The 41-year-old right-hander is penciled in as the team's No. 2 starter behind Tom Glavine.

El Duque's health is a major issue for the Mets, who won the NL East in 2007 and came within one victory of the World Series. Their aging and unsettled rotation is a big question mark this year.

MySportsbook.com has the Mets as -110 favorites to repeat as NL East champions odds. 

Hernandez went 11-11 with a 4.66 ERA last season, including 9-7 with a 4.09 ERA in 20 starts after the Mets acquired him from Arizona in late May. But he missed the playoffs because of a torn calf muscle.

New York already is without Pedro Martinez, out until at least midseason following rotator cuff surgery. Among those competing for starting jobs are prospects Mike Pelfrey, Philip Humber and Jason Vargas, plus veterans Chan Ho Park, Jorge Sosa and Aaron Sele.

Notes: Mets manager Willie Randolph is excited about two new utility players he could have on his bench: Damion Easley and David Newhan. ''Their value is really all over the place,'' Randolph said. Easley can play anywhere in the infield and could be used as an emergency outfielder, though Randolph said he would prefer to keep the veteran in the infield. Newhan, meanwhile, can play second base, third or any outfield position for the Mets. ''I love versatility,'' Randolph said. ''I love guys that can give me options when I need them to step in.''

Additional baseball lines and World Series odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

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Betting the NFL preseason

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.

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