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Rockets, Pacers collide in HoustonBasketball Betting Lines02/20/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A blockbuster trade has given the Houston Rockets an entirely new look as Rick Adelman's bunch gets ready to play host to the Indiana Pacers tonight at the Toyota Center. Houston general manager Daryl Morey dramatically changed his team's future at the trade deadline on Thursday, sending Tracy McGrady and his bloated expiring contract to the New York Knicks in a three-team, nine-player swap that brought high-scoring guard Kevin Martin from Sacramento to south Texas. The Rockets also got center Hilton Armstrong from the Kings and forwards Jordan Hill and Jared Jeffries from New York, in addition to the Knicks first-round draft picks in 2011 and 2012. The Kings got New York guard Larry Hughes and Houston forwards Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey in the deal, while the Knicks also received guard Sergio Rodriguez from Sacramento in the massive trade. Martin, the Kings' second-leading scorer at 19.8 points per game despite missing two months of the season with a broken left wrist, will be reuniting with Adelman, who coached him in Sacramento from 2004-06. "This deal is about putting a team together, players who can help us now and in the future," Morey said. "We're excited about how this sets us up for now and especially in the next year." The Rockets are currently on the outside looking in at the Western Conference playoff picture but are coming off a win at Milwaukee on Wednesday when Shane Battier scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, as Houston used a huge third quarter to destroy the Bucks, 127-99. Trevor Ariza added 22 points for the Rockets, who snapped a three-game skid. Landry donated 19 points and five rebounds off the bench while Aaron Brooks tallied 15 points and 12 assists for Houston, which outscored Milwaukee, 43-14, in the third. Aiding the Rockets' blowout was a 16-of-23 effort from three-point range. "It was a great game," Adelman said. "We came out at the second half, had talked about the game last night where we were up and really faltered in the second half, and just shot the lights out in the third quarter. Shane (Battier) and Trevor (Ariza) were just on fire. It was a well- needed win for us." The Pacers will try to stop a four-game slide when they continue a four-game road trip tonight in Houston. The losing ways resumed in last night's 107-101 loss at New Orleans, as Danny Granger posted 29 points and Mike Dunleavy added 15 off the bench in defeat. "We have to develop some consistency," Granger said. "We've been battling with that all year, we haven't got a handle on that, but when we do we will win more games than we lose." Indiana is in the basement of the Central Division and will also visit Dallas and Chicago on the trek. It has dropped three in a row on the road and owns a 6-21 record as the guest this season. This is the first meeting of the season between the Pacers and Rockets. Indiana swept the home-and-home season series a year ago.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Knicks team president Donnie Walsh said the team has more 'flexibility' to bring in high-priced players now that the trade deadline has come and gone. The Knicks acquired former scoring champion Tracy M
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat shoot for their sixth straight win when they close out a five-game road trip tonight against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Miami made it five wins in a row and improved to 4-0 on t
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Betting FootballNFL Football Betting OnlineIs 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. |
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