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Clippers kick off trek in Washington

Basketball Betting Lines

02/04/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Paul and Blake Griffin were named starters on the Western Conference All-Star squad and look to get the Los Angeles Clippers back in the win column tonight against the Washington Wizards.

The Clippers will begin a six-game road trip against the Wizards, Magic, Cavaliers, 76ers, Bobcats and Mavericks, and are 3-4 away from home this season. They are much better as the host with a 10-3 ledger, however.

Los Angeles had a four-game winning streak come to an end with Thursday's 112-91 loss versus the Denver Nuggets, as Griffin paced LA with 18 points and Paul logged 15 and nine assists in defeat. The Clippers are still a half-game ahead of the Lakers for first place in the Pacific Division.

"We played alright for the first quarter and a half, and then the floodgates opened up," Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro said. "Our energy wasn't there, we got outrebounded and we didn't manage the game well in any aspects."

Randy Foye and Mo Williams netted 17 and 13 points, respectively, for the Clippers, who had scored 100-plus points in three straight games and blew a comfortable 32-19 lead after the first 12 minutes of play. LA is averaging an NBA-best 30.9 points in the first quarter this season. DeAndre Jordan had only two points and nine rebounds and is still bothered by a hyper-extended left knee suffered against Utah in a win on Wednesday.

Caron Butler had 11 points after missing the win over the Jazz with a sore lower back. Paul was averaging 28.3 points, 10.7 assists, 2.3 steals and 3.7 rebounds in three games before facing the Nuggets. Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe (knee) is questionable for Saturday and has appeared in one game this season.

In other team news, the Clippers bolstered their roster by signing free agent Kenyon Martin on Friday. Martin played for the Xinjiang Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association during the NBA lockout, and was contractually obligated to wait until the end of the Tigers' season before returning to the NBA. He was cleared to play by FIBA, basketball's international governing body, on Thursday. Martin averaged 8.6 points and 6.2 rebounds in 48 games last season with the Denver Nuggets.

"Kenyon is the ultimate competitor and a key acquisition," stated club vice president of basketball operations Neil Olshey. "We expect that he will provide additional experience, passion and professionalism, as well as some important depth to our front court."

Meanwhile, the Wizards will begin a four-game homestand tonight versus the Clippers, Raptors, Knicks and Heat, and are 3-9 in D.C. this season.

Washington has lost three in a row and seven of its last nine games, including Friday's 106-89 loss to Toronto at Air Canada Centre. Nick Young led the Wizards with 21 points and John Wall finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Trevor Booker added 13 points and seven boards for Washington, which dropped to 4-19 on the season and shot 37.9 percent for the game.

The Wizards were killed on the boards to the tune of a 61-37 margin.

"There's not much to say about this one, you have to tip your hats to Toronto. They outplayed us in every phase of the game," Wizards interim head coach Randy Wittman said. "We fell back into some of our bad habits, we have to correct that."

Rashard Lewis finished with eight points and is six shy of reaching the 15,000-point mark in his career. Lewis will join Paul Pierce and Jason Kidd as the only players in NBA history who have scored at least 15,000 points, grabbed 5,000 rebounds and made 1,500 three-pointers.

Washington lost both meetings against the Clippers last season and has dropped five straight overall in this series. The Clippers, though, have lost seven of 10 trips to the nation's capital.

<< Lakers resume trek in Utah
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Lakers will resume a six-game road trip tonight against the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena. The Lakers have won three in a row and four of five games since a season-high three-game slide and kicke

<< Bobcats hope to end slide against Suns
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Charlotte Bobcats certainly hope to halt an ugly 10- game skid tonight but maybe Paul Silas' club should just focus on staying competitive when its visits the desert to take on the Phoenix Suns. The Bobcats are

<< Blazers entertain Nuggets at Rose Garden
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Northwest Division rivals meet in Rip City on Saturday when the Jekyll and Hyde Portland Trail Blazers entertain the well-rounded Denver Nuggets at the Rose Garden. The Blazers have been two different teams this season

<< Hawks host 76ers at Philips Arena
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks will try to bounce back tonight versus the Philadelphia 76ers in the continuation of a four-game homestand. Atlanta had won three straight and nine of 11 games until dropping a 96-77 decision to t

<< Pacers try to stay hot vs. Magic
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indiana Pacers will try to extend their season-high winning streak to five games when they entertain the Orlando Magic tonight in the opener of a modest two-game homestand. Indiana has won four in a row and se

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Hawks C Collins out at least 2 weeks >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta Hawks center Jason Collins will miss a minimum of two weeks with a sprained left elbow, the team announced Saturday. Collins was injured in the first quarter of Thursday's loss to the Grizzlies. He i

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Azarenka withdraws from Fed Cup match >>
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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

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.

How to Read Point Spreads

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:

  • Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
    OR
  • Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.

  • 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.

    For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically

    Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:

  • Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
    OR
  • Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score

    Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?

    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.