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Bucks shoot for home-and-home sweep of RaptorsBasketball Betting Lines01/22/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - This season hasn't gone as hoped for the Milwaukee Bucks so far, but the club seems to have the Toronto Raptors' number. Milwaukee will shoot for its third victory over the Raptors in 2009-10, as well as a sweep of a home-and-home series between the teams that concludes this evening at the Air Canada Centre. The Bucks dealt Toronto a 113-107 loss Wednesday in Milwaukee despite a tremendous game out of Raptors' star Chris Bosh, who poured in a career-best 44 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut came through with a big effort as well, however, with the former No. 1 overall pick netting 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting and grabbing 12 boards. Carlos Delfino added 22 points and eight rebounds to help the Bucks halt a two-game losing streak, with rookie Brandon Jennings contributing 16 points and six assists to the win. Milwaukee had just returned from a rough six-game Western road trip in which the team lost five times. "We were kind of slow in the beginning of the game, which is understandable when you come off of a trip like that, it happens a lot," said Bucks head coach Scott Skiles. "But we were able to regroup and had a great second half and a lot of guys contributed, which is what we need." Milwaukee trailed by a 56-49 score at intermission, but opened the third quarter on a 12-5 run to tie the game less than three minutes into the second half. The Bucks took the lead soon afterward on a Charlie Bell jumper that made the score 66-65. "They came out harder then we did in the third quarter," said Bosh. "I think they made a concentrated effort to do better. They had better energy to start out the third quarter." The contest remained close down the stretch, with Toronto pulling to within 103-102 on a three-point play from Bosh with 2 1/2 minutes left, but Milwaukee responded with seven straight points to pull away. Bell capped the spurt with a layup with under a minute to go. Toronto, which fell to 8-16 on the road this season, also received 16 points off the bench from Jose Calderon and 13 out of Hedo Turkoglu. The Raptors have been much better at the Air Canada Centre, having produced a 13-6 record on their home floor and posting victories in seven of their last eight games as the host. The team has topped the Bucks five times in the past seven meetings in this series held in Toronto. Milwaukee has won four of its last five overall encounters with the Raptors, however, and routed Toronto by a 117-95 count at the Bradley Center back on December 9.
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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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