Celtics, Mavericks square off in Dallas

Basketball Betting Lines

02/12/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics play their final game before the All-Star break on Thursday when they resume a lengthy six-game road trip in North Texas against the Dallas Mavericks.

The Celtics, who sport three All-Stars in Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, opened the trek with an 89-77 win in the Big Easy on Wednesday. Pierce had a game-high 30 points in that one as Boston topped New Orleans, which continued to struggle even with the return of star guard Chris Paul.

Garnett added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who improved to 19-7 on the road for the season. Eddie House and Leon Powe added 12 and 11 points, respectively, off the bench for Boston, which has won two of three.

It wasn't all good news for the C's, however. Allen hyperextended his right thumb in the game. X-rays came back negative and the veteran said he would try to play against the Mavericks.

"Early in the game I was underneath, I think it was (Kendrick) Perkins. My hand got caught in his jersey," Allen said of his injury. "I popped off and I caught the ball and then I couldn't even catch the ball (later) because it kind of jammed all of the way down. As I was running I was trying to yank on it. I tried to hold it in as the game went on. When I tried to catch the ball, I couldn't hold on to the ball."

After the break, the Celtics will finish their trip with visits to Utah, Phoenix, Denver and the LA Clippers.

The Mavs, meanwhile, improved to 2-0 on a four-game residency on Tuesday when Josh Howard and Antoine Wright each scored 23 points to lead Dallas to an easy 118-100 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

Dallas continued its dominance over Sacramento at home. The Mavs have won 10 straight over the Kings in north Texas.

Dirk Nowitzki added 21 points for the Mavs, who have won six of their last seven outings. Jason Kidd ended with 15 points, seven rebounds and 12 assists. Jose Juan Barea finished with 10 points, while Erick Dampier had nine points and 16 boards.

The Mavs were without star guard Jason Terry, who had successful surgery on his left hand Monday. Terry, the team's second-leading scorer (19.9 points a game), broke his left hand against Chicago over the weekend and is expected to be out three to six weeks.

Dallas, which is 17-7 at American Airlines Center, has won 10 of the last 11 at home and will finish the residency after the All-Star break against New Jersey.

Boston has won three straight over Dallas, including an easy 124-100 win in Beantown on January 25. The Mavs have topped the C's in 11 of their past 13 trips to Dallas, however.

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Betting Sports

The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)

But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)

Points (or Runs) Scored

Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.

The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.

Future Bets

Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.

Proposition Bets (or Prop Bets)

Proposition bets , also known as prop bets, focus upon the more exotic aspects of a game and are generally reserved for events that are widely televised. Prop bets are extremely popular when it comes to wagering on the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. The Imperial Palace Casino’s sportsbook is well-known for the enormous number of prop bets offered. For example, you can bet on:

Types of Bets

Straight Bet

Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.

Sports Betting Parlays

A parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers and is dependent on all of those wagers winning together. The benefit of the parlay bet is much better odds than placing each individual bet separately since the difficulty of hitting it is much higher.

Standard payoffs on a two-team parlay are 13/5; while a three-teamer pays 6/1; and a four-teamer 10/1.

Parlay cards are also fairly common in sportsbooks and popular with bettors, as they are released early in the week with set odds that do not change in return for a slightly lower payoff.

Round Robin Betting

Adventurous bettors who enjoy betting parlays sometimes put together a series of parlays called a Round Robin . A three-team Round Robin consists of one three-team parlay and three two-team parlays. For example, Joe likes teams A,B,C – with a Round Robin he has a three-teamer with ABC, and two-teamers with AB, AC, and BC.

Betting Teasers

Similar to a parlay, a teaser bet is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers, but is different in that the point spread is adjusted to your advantage on each individual wager. In exchange for the points, you get less of a return on your bet compared to a parlay. For example, a 6-point teaser would move the line on a 7-point favorite from -7 to -1, meaning the team would have to cover 6 less points. Each of the individual wagers must win or the bet is a loss.

These are the main types of sports bets available today. But as sports betting continues to grow, sportsbooks will continue to develop new and creative ways to bet. We’ll continue to track these changes to the sports gambling landscape, so check back often and we’ll tell you all about it!

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