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Nash, Suns aim to sweep Spurs out of the postseasonBasketball Betting Lines05/09/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Nash and his Phoenix Suns stand on the verge of exorcising quite a few demons tonight as they try and sweep the San Antonio Spurs out of the Western Conference semifinals. Four of the last five times the Suns have been in the playoffs, they were shown the door by the Spurs, and Nash, the former two-time NBA MVP, has never beaten San Antonio in the postseason. That could all change tonight thanks to Nash's understudy, Goran Dragic, a second-round pick of San Antonio in the 2008 draft. Dragic was the unlikely difference-maker for the Suns in Game 3 on Friday, scoring 23 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to spark Phoenix to a 110-96 comeback victory over the Spurs for a stunning 3-0 series lead. Phoenix essentially erased an 18-point first half deficit by the end of the third quarter and shot 15-of-21 over the final 12 minutes to put the Spurs on the brink of elimination in front of the AT&T Center crowd. Nash, who sat idly on the bench during most of Dragic's heroics, added 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the resounding win. Dragic finished 10-of-13 from the field and made all five of his attempts from behind the arc. "I don't know how many guys in the history of the game have had a quarter like that," Nash said of Dragic's performance. "I'm incredibly proud of him. We've been waiting for him to get confidence and in the flow of the game. Obviously he had that. It was a pleasure to watch." Jason Richardson and Grant Hill chipped in 21 and 18 points, respectively, for the Suns, who shot 15-of-26 from three-point range. Manu Ginobili posted 27 points for the Spurs, who received 15 points and 13 rebounds from Tim Duncan and 12 and 10 from Antonio McDyess. The trio of Tony Parker, Richard Jefferson and George Hill combined to shoot a miserable 7-of-33 from the floor for 22 points in the devastating setback. "It was embarrassing," Ginobili said of the fourth quarter. "They were great and we were pretty poor defensively...It seemed like we just couldn't stop them. It was demoralizing." Parker, who returned to the starting lineup in Friday's contest, needed to have X-rays taken on his lower back after a few hard spills in Game 3 but is expected to play tonight as San Antonio attempts to avoid being swept in the postseason for the first time since the Lakers won all four games in their 2001 conference finals set. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA playoff series but Phoenix is taking nothing for granted. "Somebody said it's 88-0 when you're 3-0," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "You know what, there's also a situation where a man didn't walk on the moon until 1969." These two franchises have matched up nine times in the postseason with the Spurs winning six, including the last four. In recent years, the Suns were beaten by San Antonio in a 2008 first-round matchup and a 2007 semifinal series. The Suns haven't beaten San Antonio in the postseason since 2000 and the last three times the Spurs have won the NBA championship, the team eliminated Phoenix along the way. Game 5 in the series, if necessary, will be in Phoenix on Tuesday.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James and the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers bounced back from their worst playoff performance this year in a big way on Friday. Now, Mike Brown's club hopes to seize control of its Eastern Conference semifinals series
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks will try to clinch their second straight trip to the Western Conference finals tonight, when they host the Vancouver Canucks for Game 5 of the conference semifinals at United Center. The second-seede
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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting. "They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over." Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.) According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26. As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines). Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday. Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind. *UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007 New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results. "We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games." While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season." About MySportsbook.com Sports Casino Poker To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Master Card needs. |
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