Clippers slip past Grizzlies
Basketball Betting Lines
01/27/2012 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Blake Griffin finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, leading the Clippers to a 98-91 victory over the Grizzlies at Staples Center.
Chris Paul and Mo Williams each scored 18 points, while Caron Butler netted 16 to help Los Angeles rebounded from a loss to the rival Lakers on Wednesday.
Rudy Gay had 24 points to pace the Grizzlies, who made it competitive despite being down 16 points in the first quarter. Nonetheless, Memphis fell for the second straight game on the heels of a seven-game winning streak.
There were a combined 19 lead changes and 13 ties in the second and third frames, but none in the fourth.
Los Angeles brought a tenuous 74-72 lead into the final stanza and went ahead 89-80 on DeAndre Jordan's alley-oop dunk with 4:46 remaining.
The closest the Grizzlies got from there was two, 91-89, following two Gay free throws with 79 seconds on the clock.
Butler made it a two-possession game with a driving layup, then teamed with Paul to fore a Gay turnover at the other end.
The Clippers finished off the win at the foul line.
"We couldn't get any stops down the stretch," Memphis head coach Lionel Hollins said.
Memphis trailed by as many as 16 in the first quarter, but got a lift when Gay let one fly from between the opposite three-point line and center court.
The buzzer-beating heave somehow banked in to cut the deficit to 29-17, and the Grizzlies pulled closer by scoring the first 11 points of the second quarter, which ended with the Clippers holding a slim 45-44 edge.
"We have to do a better job of not giving up the lead," Griffin said.
Game Notes
Both teams celebrated the 45th anniversary of the American Basketball Association's (ABA) founding by wearing throwback uniforms. The Clippers wore the baby-blue outfit of the Los Angeles Stars, while the Grizzlies donned the eye-catching Memphis Tams' jersey and shorts...Marc Gasol logged 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Grizzlies, who got 14 points apiece from Tony Allen and O.J. Mayo...Paul also had seven rebounds and seven helpers.
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2007 NFL Football Betting Preview
“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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Big 12 Conference betting odds
Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State
Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.
Work left to do:
Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.
Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.
Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.