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03/13/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The red-hot Dallas Mavericks will try to stretch their season-high winning streak to 14 games tonight when they resume a four-game homestand against the woeful New York Knicks.
Dallas kept its longest winning streak of the season intact with a 96-87 victory in the opener of its residency against New Jersey on Wednesday, as All-Star Jason Kidd racked up 20 points and nine assists.
Caron Butler added 18 points for the Mavericks, who tied Cleveland for the NBA's longest winning streak this season. Rodrigue Beaubois donated 16 points, while Dirk Nowitzki was held to just 12 points on 3-of-16 shooting.
"This is a really good basketball team at home," said Nets coach Kiki Vandeweghe. "You've got to play a perfect game to beat them here."
Dallas, which is now just three games behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the top spot in the West, is now just four wins shy of equaling the franchise record run set in 2006-07 season.
"We're not thinking about the streak. We just want to get better every game. We want to win every game," Kidd told the Mavs' Web site.
The Knicks, meanwhile, fell to 0-2 on a five-game road trip last night in Memphis when ex-Knick Zach Randolph had 24 points and 11 rebounds, as the Grizzlies held on to take a 119-112 victory over New York.
Bill Walker had 21 points off the bench to pace the Knicks, who have lost four of their last five overall. Fellow reserves Toney Douglas and Al Harrington had 19 and 15 points, respectively, while David Lee ended with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
"Toney Douglas came in and did a great job, Bill Walker. You can't play the game without energy and hustle. You just can't do it," Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni said. "They came in and gave us that little bit...after we were down so many, it's hard to make it up."
New York has dropped eight straight and 15 of 16 to the Mavs, a record of futility that includes the biggest rout in Dallas franchise history, a 128-78 drubbing at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 24. Meanwhile, the Knicks haven't won in Big D this century, last recording a win in north Texas on Dec. 16 1999.
<< Nuggets press on without Karl in Memphis
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Nuggets continue their push to the postseason
without head coach George Karl tonight against a desperate Memphis Grizzlies
team.
The Nuggets played without Karl, who is undergoing radiation and chemotherapy
to
<< Surging Magic continue push towards postseason, visit Wizards
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The lowly Washington Wizards will continue playing out the
string tonight when they host Eastern Conference power Orlando.
The Wizards lost their sixth straight game last night in Auburn Hills when
Will Bynum provided a sp
<< Hawks welcome Pistons to Dixie
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The playoff bound Atlanta Hawks return to the cozy confines
of Philips Arena Saturday to take on a Detroit Pistons team headed for the NBA
Draft Lottery.
The Hawks salvaged the finale of their recent three-game road trip o
<< Blackhawks visit Flyers in afternoon clash
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One of the top teams in the Western Conference will head to
the East Coast today as the Chicago Blackhawks visit the Philadelphia Flyers
for an afternoon battle at Wachovia Center.
The Blackhawks have 93 points on the year
Habs and Bruins square off as playoff hopefuls >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Montreal Canadiens look to further their playoff
chances and defeat Boston for the fifth time in six meetings this year tonight
at the Bell Centre, while the Bruins hope to strengthen their hold on the
Eastern Conference'
Devils visit Islanders with first place in sight >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils will try to move into a first-place
tie in the Atlantic Division this evening when they take on the New York
Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.
The Devils picked up their second victory in a row last night
Coyotes hit the road to take on Hurricanes >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Coyotes will play their first road game in just
over a month this evening when they kick off a four-game swing versus the
Carolina Hurricanes at RBC Center.
The Coyotes are among the league leaders with 25 home
Red Wings aim to get back in playoff picture against Sabres >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Finally healthy, the Red Wings' offense has looked like a
dangerous unit that could give teams trouble in the playoffs. However,
Detroit still needs to get there first.
The Red Wings will try to leap into the eighth spot i
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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