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Celtics visit Cavs for Game 1 of East semis

Basketball Betting Lines

05/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The incidental stuff has been taken care of.

Now, the top- seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and the veteran-laden Boston Celtics are preparing to do some heavy lifting, as the teams meet in the Eastern Conference semifinals in a rematch from two years ago when the Celtics survived in seven games on their way to an NBA championship.

Both clubs finished off their opening round opponents this year in just five games, as Cleveland dispensed of Central Division rival Chicago, while the Celtics sent the Miami Heat back to South Beach.

With the 4-1 series victory over Chicago, Cleveland reached the East semifinals for a fifth straight season. The Celtics, meanwhile, are toiling in the semis for a third consecutive year.

The Cavs suffered a bit of a scare in their Game 5 clincher. Superstar LeBron James, who will be awarded his second straight MVP trophy on Sunday in his hometown of Akron, had to fight through a right elbow injury as he narrowly missed his second straight triple-double in the set. By the end of the game, James was shooting a free throw using his left hand.

"I've never had a problem with my elbow before," James said. "Probably minor stuff in the past. I don't know exactly when it happened. I can't figure it out. Hopefully it doesn't continue to bother me as we continue to move on in the postseason."

X-Rays and an MRI, as well as an examination on Wednesday night revealed James strained the elbow and also has a bone bruise of his olecranon. He is scheduled to undergo daily treatments and a repeat MRI will be performed next week. It is not anticipated that James will miss any playing time, although he is expected to wear a protective sleeve to help absorb contact.

The Celtics, meanwhile, had no trouble closing out their first round set on Tuesday when Ray Allen hit 5-of-6 from behind the arc and scored a team-high 24 points to help the Celtics to a 96-86 Game 5 victory at TD Garden.

Cleveland has won 12 of its last 13 postseason games at Quicken Loans Arena and is a gaudy 25-7 at The Q since the 2006 postseason, the second most home wins in the playoffs over that span (LA Lakers are 26-5).

The Cavs and Celtics split four games in the regular season and this will be the fifth playoff meeting between the two clubs dating back to the 1975-76 season when Boston won the Eastern Conference finals over the Cavs in six games.

"We're looking forward to the challenge. It is a team we knew we had to face at some point," James told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "We're not much of a talking group, but we're not going to back down from nobody. It is going to be a fun, physical series."

The C's also won a first round series over Cleveland in 1984-85, and in the East semis in 2007-08. The Cavs only win in the postseason over Boston came in the East semifinals during the 1991-92 season, also a seven-game set.

"I think it's something that's kind of turned into a rivalry," Boston forward Paul Pierce said. "We played them already one time in the playoffs and it just seems every game we play against them, whether it be at home or on the road it gets kind of heated.

"This is a big series for us. You have to expect some tempers to probably flare. It'll be a physical series, just two heavyweights going at it, battling for one thing and that's to advance and go to the next round."

Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Monday in Cleveland.

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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.