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Raptors welcome Heat to Air Canada CentreBasketball Betting Lines01/27/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors aim to maintain their strong recent play on their home court when the Miami Heat enter the Air Canada Centre tonight for a matchup between teams jockeying for position in the Eastern Conference. Toronto has won nine of its last 10 outings as the host, including the first two tests of its current three-game homestand. After besting Milwaukee by a 101-96 count on Friday, the Raptors came through with a 106-105 victory over the defending world champion Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday behind Hedo Turkoglu's two free throws with 1.2 seconds left. The Raptors trailed 105-101 with under two minutes to go, but a three-point play by Andrea Bargnani with 1:16 left pulled Toronto within one. After both teams failed to score on their next possessions, Lakers All-Star Kobe Bryant misfired on a three-point shot with 15.3 seconds remaining and Turkoglu was fouled after knifing into the lane with time winding down. He hit both foul shots to give the Raptors a one-point edge. Following a Lakers' timeout, Bryant's desperation three-point attempt clanked off the rim as time expired. "We wanted to keep it close and play good defense," said Toronto's Chris Bosh. "We didn't get down at any time during the game. We went to work hard and made some shots late." Bosh finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds in the win, while Bargnani netted 22 points to help Toronto defeat the Lakers for only the third time in its last 16 tries. Miami starts up a key three-game road trip this evening and will attempt to bounce back from Monday's tough 92-91 home loss to Eastern Conference front- runner Cleveland. The Heat took a 91-90 lead on Udonis Haslem's layup with 1:05 remaining, and the score remained that way until the final seconds. Cavaliers superstar LeBron James had his potential go-ahead shot blocked by Dwyane Wade, but intercepted Wade's behind-the-back pass and was fouled while driving to the hoop with 4.1 seconds to go. The reigning league MVP sank both shots from the line to put Cleveland up by one. Wade then missed a jumper from near the top of the arc as time expired, preventing Miami from earning a third straight win. Wade amassed 32 points and 10 rebounds, matching James' point total in the head-to-head showdown between the two All-Stars, but scored just two points on 1-of-8 shooting in the second half. In addition to committing the crucial late turnover, the standout guard missed a pair of foul shots in the closing minute. "The competition is great," said Wade when asked about opposing James. "At the end of the day we understand it's a team game, and I think the second half proved that." Miami went just 1-of-6 from the free-throw line as a team in the fourth quarter. Wednesday's defeat reduced the Heat's lead over the Raptors for fifth place in the Eastern Conference to just one half-game, with Charlotte one game back of Miami in the seventh spot. These teams have met twice previously during the 2009-10 campaign, with each winning on its home floor. The Raptors dealt the Heat a 120-113 loss at the Air Canada Centre on November 20, Toronto's fifth victory in its last six home games against Miami. The Raptors have also won seven of the past nine overall matchups in this series.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of teams on the outside looking in at the Eastern Conference playoff picture meet in Brew City tonight as the Milwaukee Bucks play host the Philadelphia 76ers. The Bucks, who are coming off a tough loss in D
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White Plains, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Surprise 2009 U.S. Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin will lead the United States against host France in a Fed Cup quarterfinal matchup next week. The 18-year-old Oudin will be joined on the U.S
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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?" A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook. In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small. "Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets." But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?" Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year. This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here. Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions. In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries. No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning. And that's all any bettor can ask for. To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. |
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