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02/15/2007 -
The Boston Celtics finally ended the longest losing streak in franchise history, beating a Milwaukee Bucks team that was struggling almost as badly as they were. The San Antonio Spurs finished an eight-game road trip with a win against Detroit that snapped the Pistons' seven-game winning streak.
Paul Pierce scored 32 points, Gerald Green had 21, and the Celtics beat the Bucks 117-97 Wednesday night to snap an 18-game slide and get their first win since Jan. 5.
Boston, which broke its previous franchise record of 13 straight losses, was closing on the NBA's record of 24 - including 23 in one season. However, the Celtics rallied from a 15-point deficit to go ahead in the second quarter and then opened a double-digit lead in the third.
``We could have easily ended up in that zone with NBA-record losing streaks,'' Pierce said. ``We definitely eyed this game. Milwaukee had a lot of pieces missing, so we wanted to take advantage of that.''
The Bucks lost their fourth straight and dropped to 3-17 since Michael Redd went out with a strained patellar tendon in his left knee. Also, Charlie Villaneuva was out with an ankle sprain he picked up the previous night; Mo Williams' was slowed by a shoulder injury; and Earl Boykins picked up a cut on his right leg that needed stitches in the first half.
Tim Duncan scored 23 points and Francisco Elson added 12 points and a career-high 18 rebounds as the Spurs beat the Pistons 90-81 to finish a 4-4 road trip and get their first win at the Palace of Auburn Hills since Game 5 of the 2005 NBA finals.
``We've been inconsistent all year, so it was nice to see us put together 48 good minutes,'' Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. ``That's one of our best games all year, and it is the finest game Francisco has played for this team.''
In the other NBA games Wednesday night, it was: Indiana 114, Memphis 104; Orlando 103, Portland 91; Toronto 120, New Jersey 109; Charlotte 100, Chicago 85; Washington 92, Philadelphia 85; Minnesota 99, Denver 94; New Orleans 110, Sacramento 93; Utah 99, Cleveland 98; Seattle 114, Phoenix 90; Golden State 120, New York 101; and Atlanta 96, the Los Angeles Clippers 93.
Williams scored 31 points, Charlie Bell had 24 and Brian Skinner scored 13 with 11 rebounds for the Bucks.
``Everybody knows'' about the Celtics' streak, Williams said. ``You don't want to be the team that they beat. That's why it hurts a little more.''
Al Jefferson had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Wally Szczerbiak, back after missing two games with a sprained right ankle, had 14 points.
After the break, Boston embarks on a five-game road trip, four against teams in playoff position.
``I thought that if we could win this game, it gives us a fighting chance out there. That's all we want,'' coach Doc Rivers said. ``The guys are in there taking monkeys off each others' backs and all that stuff. It's just a relief to get it done.''
Manu Ginobili scored 20 points for the Spurs, while Tony Parker had 16. San Antonio's reserves outscored Detroit's 35-13.
``It wasn't tough at all to get up for this one,'' Duncan said. ``We aren't playing well, and we really needed to put together a good game before the break.''
The Pistons were playing their fifth straight game at home, but struggled at both ends of the floor in their first loss of the month.
``It's always tough to play the last game before the break,'' Chauncey Billups said. ``They came in hungry, because they've been struggling a bit. By the time we started fighting, it was an uphill battle.''
Richard Hamilton led the Pistons with 20 points while Billups scored 19, including 16 in the second half.Wizards 92, 76ers 85
Gilbert Arenas finished with 22 points on 8-for-26 shooting, and visiting Washington won for just second time in six games.
Kyle Korver led Philadelphia with 18 points, Andre Iguodala added 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Samuel Dalembert had 17 rebounds and 11 points.Raptors 120, Nets 109
Chris Bosh had 25 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Toronto won its eighth straight at home and stretched its Atlantic Division lead to 4 1/2 games over New Jersey.
Bostjan Nachbar had a career-high 26 points and former Raptor Vince Carter had 17 points and 10 assists for the Nets. Jason Kidd was out with a back injury.Pacers 114, Grizzlies 104
Jermaine O'Neal scored 23 points, Danny Granger added 21 and host Indiana overcame a poor start.
Rookie Rudy Gay had a career-high 31 points for Memphis, including 12 in the third quarter.Bobcats 100, Bulls 85
Gerald Wallace scored 32 points, Emeka Okafor added 15 points and 21 rebounds and Charlotte snapped a four-game losing streak.
Ben Gordon scored 20 points and Luol Deng added 19 points and nine rebounds for visiting Chicago.Magic 103, Trail Blazers 91
Hedo Turkoglu scored 24 points, and Dwight Howard had 20 points and 16 rebounds to move host Orlando one game over .500.
Zach Randolph had 28 points and 10 rebounds for Portland.Timberwolves 99, Nuggets 94
At Minneapolis, Mark Blount scored 24 points, including eight in a row in the final 2:30, as Minnesota won for the third time in four games.
Carmelo Anthony had 28 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Steve Blake added a career-high 18 assists for Denver.Hornets 110, Kings 93
At Oklahoma City, Desmond Mason scored 18 points and David West had 16 for New Orleans.
Ron Artest scored 18 points on 4-for-15 shooting from the field, and Corliss Williamson added 15 points to lead Sacramento.Jazz 99, Cavaliers 98
Deron Williams had a career-high 33 points and 12 assists to help host Utah to its sixth straight win.
LeBron James finished with 23 points - just four in the fourth quarter - and Larry Hughes had 33 for Cleveland. The Cavs had a final chance, but Sasha Pavlovic's heave was just off at the buzzer.SuperSonics 114, Suns 90
Ray Allen scored 15 of his 31 points in the third quarter, and Seattle handed visiting Phoenix its worst loss of the season. Nick Collison added 22 points and 15 rebounds for the Sonics.
Amare Stoudemire had 19 points and 13 rebounds for Phoenix, which was again without reigning two-time MVP Steve Nash and starter Boris Diaw.Warriors 120, Knicks 101
Stephen Jackson scored 21 of his season high-tying 36 points in the first half, and host Golden State blew most of a 31-point lead before holding off New York.
Nate Robinson scored 21 of his season-high 23 points in the second half for the Knicks.Hawks 96, Clippers 93
Joe Johnson, selected for his first NBA All-Star game earlier in the day, scored six of his 27 points in the final 19 seconds to rally visiting Atlanta. Josh Smith added 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Zaza Pachulia had 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Hawks.
Cuttino Mobley had a season-high 31 points for the Clippers, and Chris Kaman had 20 points, 13 rebounds and blocked six shots.
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
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.
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.
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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