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01/27/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Wizards have had trouble the past two seasons playing well on the road and look to avoid an 0-8 start as the guest tonight against the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center.
The Wizards will play two straight and four of their next five games on the road and are off to their worst start away from home (0-7) since losing the first 25 road games last season. They are coming off a home win over the Charlotte Bobcats, a 92-75 triumph Wednesday at the Verizon Center in the debut of interim head coach Randy Wittman.
Nick Young scored 20 points and Andray Blatche posted 17 and 10 rebounds, a day after head coach Flip Saunders was fired in the midst of a 2-15 start. Wittman was a lead assistant for Saunders, who was just 51-130 in two-plus seasons as the team's head coach.
"I can't honestly say we needed a new voice. We just needed somebody to actually check us like Wittman did. That's what we needed," said Blatche.
John Wall netted 12 points and JaVale McGee posted six and 10 boards in a winning effort, helping the Wizards halt a three-game slide and improve to 3-15 on the season. It was Washington's second win in nine tries. The Wizards lucked out that Charlotte was minus leading scorers Gerald Henderson and D.J. Augustin.
The Wizards will also visit Charlotte before hosting Chicago, then will hit the road again for back-to-back contests in Orlando and Toronto. They didn't post their first road win of the 2010-11 campaign until Feb. 13 at the Cavs.
Houston will try to get back on track after having a season-high seven-game winning streak cut short with Wednesday's 105-99 loss versus Milwaukee in the opener of a four-game homestand.
Kevin Martin pumped in a game-best 29 points and Samuel Dalembert recorded a double-double with 13 points and 18 rebounds for the Rockets, who had also won five in a row as the host and fell to 7-2 in Space City.
"We gave up 63 points in the second half. There's no excuse for that," said Rockets coach Kevin McHale. "We had a great second quarter followed by a poor third quarter and then we couldn't ... we just never got any momentum in that game until late but when we started defending again it was too late."
A 20-0 burst bridging almost five minutes in the third and fourth quarters proved to be the difference for the Bucks, as they turned a 70-66 deficit into an 86-70 lead with 8:55 to go in the fourth. Houston, which got 18 points and eight boards from Luis Scola, dropped its first home game to Milwaukee since November 2, 1999 and was riding its longest winning streak since a 22-game run back in the 2007-08 campaign.
The Rockets will also host New York and Minnesota on the residency. The Rockets will try to keep Washington under the 90-point mark since they have won 18 straight games when doing so.
Houston defeated Washington, 114-106, on Jan. 16 this season in D.C. and got 25 points and eight assists from Martin. Dalembert had 20 points and seven rebounds for the Rockets, who are 11-2 in the last 13 matchups in this series. Washington has lost two straight, 15 of 17 and 18 of its last 21 road encounters with the Rockets.
<< Villanova promotes Crocker to defensive coordinator
Villanova, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Villanova head football coach Andy Talley
announced Friday the promotion of Billy Crocker from linebackers coach to
defensive coordinator.
Talley also announced the hiring of Roc Bellantoni as defensive line
<< Tiger two behind Olesen in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods posted a three-
under 69 Friday to move within two strokes of the lead after two rounds of the
Abu Dhabi Championship.
Woods, who is playing this event for the first time, had f
<< Djokovic rallies past Murray to reach Aussie Open final
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Novak Djokovic will play for a second
straight Australian Open title after rallying for a thrilling five-set
semifinal win over Andy Murray in a rematch of last year's final.
Djokovic blitzed Murray in
<< Despite defections, plenty of talent still on hand for Pro Bowl
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A select number of the NFL's best players will be making a
trip to Hawaii to participate in this Sunday's AFC-NFC Pro Bowl, though the
league's annual all-star game will be lacking some of its star power once again
due to a v
Improved Pacers try to pass another test in Boston >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indiana Pacers try to follow up their biggest win of
the season tonight when they head to Boston to face the Celtics at TD Garden.
Indiana picked up a big win over the Eastern Conference-leading Chicago Bulls
on Wednes
Thunder, Warriors collide in Oakland >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Western Conference-leading Thunder will kick off a
three-game road trip tonight when they visit Oakland to take on the Golden
State Warriors.
The Thunder (15-3) won their third straight game and for the 11th
Blazers welcome Suns to Rip City >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blazers haven't been much of a threat away from Rip
City this season but things have been far different when they are hitting the
hardwood in the Pacific Northwest.
Portland will shoot for its sixth straight win a
Nuggets aim to stay hot vs. Raptors >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The streaking Denver Nuggets aim for a sixth straight win
tonight when they host a Toronto team that expects to be without leading
scorer Andrea Bargnani.
The Nuggets are fresh off a brilliant 5-0 road trip tha
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Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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