Nuggets entertain Lakers at Pepsi Center
Basketball Betting Lines
02/03/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Denver Nuggets shoot for a two-day sweep of Los Angeles when they welcome a Lakers team that has struggled on the road this season to the Rocky Mountains.
The Nuggets were in the City of Angels on Thursday and summarily dispatched of the Clippers when Danilo Gallinari went 5-of-5 from behind the arc and scored 21 points, as Denver silenced the streaking Clips, 112-91, at Staples Center.
The Clippers came in 10-2 at home and were riding a four-game winning steak that featured a win in Denver on Sunday. The Nuggets avenged that setback emphatically, taking control by outscoring the Vinny Del Negro's team by 32 points over the second and third quarters.
"In the middle of the second quarter we started to be more aggressive," Gallinari said. "We were able to win the game in the third quarter."
Ty Lawson finished with 18 points and six assists, and Arron Afflalo chipped in 15 points for the victors. Andre Miller, playing in his 1,000th regular season game, added eight points for the Nuggets, who shot 53 percent from the field and 12-of-21 from three-point range.
The Lakers, meanwhile, are just 2-7 on the road as they begin a season-high six-game trek tonight.
Things have been far different in SoCal for the Lakers and Kobe and Company improved to 11-2 as the host on Tuesday when Bryant led six scorers in double figures with 24 points as the Lakers cruised to a 106-73 win over the hapless Bobcats.
Andrew Bynum, named a Western Conference All-Star starter along with Bryant on Thursday, added 20 points and 11 rebounds while rookie Andrew Goudelock chipped in 12 points for Mike Brown's club, which has won two straight and three of four overall.
"We got a lot of good production from our team," said Brown. "Our bench was terrific. Our spacing is a lot better, we're moving the ball."
The Lakers, who are off to their worst start on the road in nine years, will also visit the Jazz, Sixers, Celtics, Knicks and Raptors on the trip.
Denver has won four of its last six regular season games over the Lakers at Pepsi Center. The last one was a 99-90 triumph back on New Year's Day when Bryant scored 16 points to become just the sixth NBA player to reach 28,000 in a career but shot a dismal 6-of-28 from the field.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors try to avoid a third straight loss this evening when they welcome the woeful Washington Wizards north of the border to the Air Canada Centre. With star forward Andrea Bargnani sidelined with a calf inj
<< U.S. men to face Canada in June friendly
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The U.S. men's national team will be renewing
its rivalry with Canada on June 3 when the two sides meet up at BMO Field in
Toronto for a friendly.
The game will be part of the Centenary celebrations fo
<< Cubs avoid arbitration with Garza
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs avoided arbitration with Matt
Garza on Friday, signing the starter to a one-year contract.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but the Chicago Tribune reported the
settlement to be for
<< Three-year-olds take spotlight at Tampa Bay
Oldsmar, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday gets solidly onto
the Kentucky Derby trail with the running of the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes.
The 32nd edition of the 1 1/16-mile race has attracted a field of 11 three-
year-ol
<< Italians set to face Ukraine in Fed Cup QFs
Biella, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Italy, which has won three of the last six
Fed Cup titles, will host Ukraine this weekend in a best-of-five World Group
quarterfinal.
First up on Saturday in Biella, Italian Sara Errani will face
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fear the deer. Opposing teams are beginning to build some trepidation for Milwaukee Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings too. Jennings and the resurgent Bucks will hit the road tonight to take on the lowly Detroit Pistons an
Nets entertain improved Wolves >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Improved play on the road has kept the Minnesota
Timberwolves respectable this season and they'll try for a third straight
victory as the guest tonight against the New Jersey Nets.
Minnesota is 5-4 away from the Twin Citie
Rockets welcome Suns to Space City >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets will try to halt a two-game slide when
they welcome the Phoenix Suns to South Texas on Friday.
After a poor start to the season, Houston crept near the top of the Southwest
Division by winning nine o
Mavericks' Cuban, Carlisle fined by NBA >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and head
coach Rick Carlisle were each fined by the NBA on Friday.
Cuban was slapped with a $75,000 penalty and Carlisle was penalized $35,000.
Carlisle's fine resulted
Knicks and Celtics renew rivalry at TD Garden >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carmelo Anthony has battled with injuries and losing
streaks since helping the New York Knicks defeat the Boston Celtics in a much-
anticipated matchup on Christmas Day at Madison Square Garden.
Anthony scored 17 of his 37
SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.