Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
02/26/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic are slipping out of the playoff picture, and will aim to snap a back-breaking four-game losing streak this evening when they open a tough four-game road swing against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.
Orlando fell to the Houston Rockets on Sunday, 97-93, and are now tied with New Jersey for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Grant Hill ended with 21 points and seven rebounds for the Magic, who come into tonight's game having lost six in a row on the road. Dwight Howard was a force for Orlando with 18 points and 16 rebounds, but Orlando fell for the eighth time in 10 contests.
After tonight, the Magic will see tough road tilts against Denver, San Antonio and Dallas.
The Magic are just 9-18 as the visitor this season and have lost six of their last eight against the Bulls. Orlando did capture the lone meeting between the clubs this season on November 1.
The Magic, though, have dropped five of their last eight in Chicago.
Ben Wallace made his return to Detroit on Sunday as a member of the Bulls, but Chicago was undone by Chris Webber's tip-in with 2.2 ticks left and lost 95-93 to the Pistons at The Palace.
Webber got a hold of the ball and scored the deciding basket after Chauncey Billups put up a jumper. With one last chance for the win, Ben Gordon missed a three-pointer from the left wing to end the game.
Gordon netted 21 points and P.J. Brown had 19 points with 12 boards for the Bulls, who had a three-game winning streak halted. Luol Deng scored 18 points and grabbed eight boards, while Chris Duhon donated 12 points in defeat.
Wallace, meanwhile, was booed each time he touched the ball and finished with six points and eight boards.
Detroit beings a three-game homestand tonight that will also see visits from Golden State and New Orleans/Oklahoma City. The club is an Eastern Conference- best 22-7 at home this year and have won five of their last six as the host.
The Pistons lead the Central Division by 4 1/2 games over Cleveland.
<< New-look Thrashers head to Boston
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Thrashers hope the recent additions to their
lineup will translate to improved play and they'll test that theory tonight,
when they visit the Boston Bruins at TD Banknorth Garden.
The Thrashers are just 2-7-2 i
<< Spurs aim to extend winning streak against Raptors
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs try to keep pace in the Southwest
standings tonight when they host the Toronto Raptors at AT&T Center.
San Antonio won its fifth straight game on Saturday, a 102-71 victory over
Seattle, but despite t
<< Nuggets try to get on same page against Grizzlies
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Nuggets try to put the brakes on a four-
game losing streak this evening when they visit the Memphis Grizzlies at the
FedExForum.
Denver became Dallas' 19th straight victim at home on Saturday when they fell
to
<< Knicks welcome Heat to Garden
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Knicks aim to make up ground in the
playoff race this evening when they host the Miami Heat at Madison Square
Garden.
The Knicks come into tonight's game 10th overall in the East, two games out of
a playoff s
Hoyas can earn share of Big East title with win at Syracuse >>
Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 12th-ranked Georgetown Hoyas have won their
last 11 games, and they will battle the Syracuse Orange today in a key Big East
Conference matchup.
On Saturday, Georgetown took over sole possession of first p
Sharks and Ducks tangle in San Jose >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - An important Pacific Division battle takes place tonight
in San Jose, as the Sharks welcome the first-place Anaheim Ducks to HP
Pavilion.
The Ducks are first in the Pacific and second in the Western Conference with
82 po
SuperSonics host Northwest Division-rival Portland >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Northwest Division rivals battle when the Portland Trail
Blazers visit the Seattle SuperSonics tonight at KeyArena.
This is the second of four meetings between the squads this campaign. On
November 1st, Zach Randolph scor
Kobe, Lakers visit Northwest Division-leading Utah >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of the top teams in the Western Conference meet when
the Utah Jazz welcome the Los Angeles Lakers tonight to EnergySolutions Arena.
This is the third and final meeting of the regular season between the clubs.
The teams
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting