Nuggets target a win vs. visiting Rockets
Basketball Betting Lines
02/06/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The suddenly shaky Denver Nuggets will try to avoid a season-high third straight loss tonight when they welcome the Houston Rockets to Pepsi Center.
The Nuggets, who are opening up a three-game homestand, have dropped four of five overall after Saturday's 117-97 setback in Portland. Danilo Gallinari netted 20 points while Kosta Koufos finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds in that one for Denver.
"They're one of the best home teams in basketball. The times we played them, they're a top-five team. They've played great," Nuggets head coach George Karl said of the Blazers.
Denver, which is 7-4 in the Rockies this season, will also host Dallas and Golden State on its residency.
The Rockets, who are resuming a six-game road trip tonight, have also hit the skids a bit recently, losing for the third time in four games on Saturday in the opener of the trek in Minnesota, 100-91.
Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry scored 24 points apiece for the Rockets and Patrick Patterson had 14 off the bench in that one as the Timberwolves snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Rockets at home and won for only the third time in the last 18 meetings overall.
"We just started out with no defensive intensity," Houston coach Kevin McHale told the team's website. "We can't be a pretty team, we can't be a team that just goes out there and plays easy; we've got to be a team that's going to go out there and fight like we did when we got mad."
The Rockets are just 3-8 on the road and will also visit Portland, Phoenix, Golden State and Memphis before returning to South Texas.
These two teams split four meetings a season ago, with Houston winning the last two.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Antonio opens up its annual Rodeo Road Trip tonight in Memphis against the Grizzlies. Since 2003, the Spurs have been forced on an extended trek for much of February since the AT&T Center hosts the ann
<< Cousins leads Kings into New Orleans
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - DeMarcus Cousins hopes to build on one of his best games as
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Cousins h
<< Leafs hope to extend win streak in clash with surging Oilers
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tonight at Air Canada Centre.
The Maple Leafs have received terrific goaltending from
<< Big 12 brawl pits Missouri against Oklahoma
Norman, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Missouri Tigers set their sights on
continued success as they head to the Lloyd Noble Center for a Big 12
Conference battle with the Oklahoma Sooners this evening.
This will be the 209th meeting in the all-t
<< Marquette and DePaul meet in Big East action
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Golden Eagles will try to bounce back tonight against the DePaul Blue Demons
in a Big East Conference battle at Allstate Arena.
This will be the 111th meeting in the a
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The West's best faces a tough test tonight as Oklahoma City resumes a five-game road trip against a Portland team that has been dominant in Rip City. The Thunder are an NBA-best 18-5 despite losing the opener of their
Flames try for rare win in Anaheim >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames took care of business at home on Friday
before hitting the road for a few games. The task gets a little daunting right
off the bat tonight as they aim for their first victory against the Ducks at
Anaheim in
Howard-less Red Wings aim for win in Phoenix >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Not having their starting goaltender over the weekend did
little to help Detroit shake off its road issues. However, a trip to Phoenix
just might do the trick.
The Red Wings look to record a sweep of their season series wi
Pachuca erases three-goal deficit to stun Toluca >>
Toluca, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mauro Cejas converted a penalty kick in the
90th minute as Pachuca rallied from three goals behind to stun Toluca, 4-3, on
Sunday in Mexico's Clausura.
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Clippers resume road trip in Orlando >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A possible trade destination for Dwight Howard is Los
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of the Orlando Magic, who will open a three-game homestand tonight versus
the Clippers at Am
FOOTBALL TRASH TALK
NFL Football Trash TalkTrash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.