Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
02/06/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards meet for the second time in four nights this evening, as the two teams do battle at the Verizon Center this evening.
These two bottom feeders met on Friday in Toronto and Leandro Barbosa netted 19 points to lead a balanced offensive attack, as the Raptors rolled to a 106-89 at Air Canada Centre.
The Raptors failed to follow that win up on Sunday, though, and dropped a 95-89 decision to the Miami Heat.
DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points to lead the Raptors, and Linas Kleiza and Jerryd Bayless netted 17 points apiece as Toronto has now lost three of its last four games.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey found some positives in the team's loss saying, "I liked our disposition, I liked the way we approached it. I liked the way we competed."
"It just shows that we can compete with anybody," DeRozan added.
Washington, meanwhile, fell for the fourth straight time on Saturday to the Los Angeles Clippers, who handed them a 107-81 setback at home.
John Wall and Nick Young each scored 14, but the Wizards fell to 4-20 on the season. Jordan Crawford scored 12 in a reserve role for Washington, which shot 37.5 percent from the field.
Washington managed a mere 38 points through the first 30 1/2 minutes and were outrebounded 53-32 for the game. The 17 assists mustered by the Wiz were barely half the Clippers total of 32.
"We all should have been embarrassed. We were on our home court - and they came out and did what they wanted," said Rashard Lewis. "As a unit, none of us came to play."
<< Hawks hope to get healthy vs. Suns
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Known to be a formidable foe on their own court, the
Atlanta Hawks have stumbled a bit during a four-game homestand and look to
restore order at Philips Arena tonight versus the Phoenix Suns.
The Hawks have lost the first
<< Bulls continue lengthy road trip vs. Nets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls are in the midst of a nine-game road trip
and will continue the lengthy trek tonight against the New Jersey Nets.
Chicago improved to 3-2 thus far on the road swing following Saturday's 113-90
victory at
<< Kobe leads Lakers into Philadelphia
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The superstars keep rolling into South Philly and Los
Angeles Lakers stud Kobe Bryant is next on the A-list when he leads his team
against the 76ers tonight from Wells Fargo Center.
Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, LeBron Jame
<< Clippers resume road trip in Orlando
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A possible trade destination for Dwight Howard is Los
Angeles with the revamped Clippers. For now, however, Howard is still property
of the Orlando Magic, who will open a three-game homestand tonight versus
the Clippers at Am
O's deal Guthrie to Rox for Hammel and Lindstrom >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles have traded pitcher
Jeremy Guthrie to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for pitchers Jason Hammel
and Matt Lindstrom.
Guthrie was Baltimore's opening day starter in 2011 and pos
Lisicki withdraws from Paris event >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth seed Sabine Lisicki pulled out of this
week's WTA event in Paris, citing a viral illness.
Estonian Kaia Kanepi also pulled out of the Open GDF Suez tournament due to a
right shoulder injury. She title
Frimpong out for season with knee injury >>
Wolverhampton, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - On-loan Wolverhampton midfielder
Emmanuel Frimpong will miss the rest of the season after he sustained a
ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
The injury occurred in the
Ibrahimovic receives three-match ban >>
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been
given a three-match ban for violent conduct, it was confirmed on Monday.
The Swedish frontman was sent off in Milan's 0-0 draw with Napoli on Sunday
after he
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting