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02/19/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While the Chicago Bulls pulled off a few trades on Thursday that will make them contenders in the upcoming free agent market, they are still very much alive in this season's playoff race.
Fresh off dealing Tyrus Thomas and John Salmons in separate trades, Chicago will try for a third straight victory in this evening's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.
The Bulls were able to clear salary yesterday by dealing Salmons to Milwaukee, along with a pair of second-round picks, for forwards Hakim Warrick and Joe Alexander.
An even bigger deal went down later in the day, when Chicago ended Thomas' disappointing run in the Windy City, shipping the fourth overall pick of the 2006 draft to Charlotte for guards Acie Law and Flip Murray as well as a future first-round pick.
The 23-year-old Thomas had career averages of 7.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in his 254-game career with Chicago.
By acquiring a host of expiring contracts, Chicago is now in position to make a major run at the upcoming free agent class, which could include the likes of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Joe Johnson. The Bulls will hope to pair one of those players with their own star in guard Derrick Rose, who has played well since the All-Star break despite suffering a right hip injury last week.
The top pick of the 2008 draft was well enough to score eight points in 15- plus minutes at last weekend's All-Star Game. Rose was then worked back into action slowly by Chicago following the break, though he made the most of his 27 minutes Tuesday versus the New York Knicks. Rose dropped 29 points in a 118-85 home win that night, then posted 27 points in close to 40 minutes of work in Wednesday's 115-109 triumph at New York to complete the home-and-home sweep.
"Everything is going smooth for me," Rose said. "We're playing good basketball right now."
Luol Deng added 23 points in Wednesday's win, Brad Miller notched 19 of his 21 points in the second half and Taj Gibson donated 14 points and a career-best 16 rebounds as Chicago moved a game over .500 (27-26) by winning for the fourth time in five games.
The Bulls will also try to keep up their solid road play as of late. Chicago, which is tied with Miami for sixth in the East, has won seven of its last nine as the guest following a 4-15 road start this season.
Chicago may find it tough to extend its strong road play, as it has lost four trips to Minnesota, where it hasn't won since February 13, 2005. However, the Bulls did log a 110-96 home victory over Minnesota on January 9 to halt the Timberwolves' three-game series winning streak.
Rose was held to just eight points in that win, while Joakim Noah -- currently sidelined with a left foot injury -- had 20 points.
Chicago now visits a Minnesota team that has lost four straight and is just 6-18 over its last 24 games.
The Timberwolves used a big fourth-quarter run to pull ahead of Washington on Wednesday, taking a 91-87 lead after a 16-1 burst, but couldn't hold off the Wizards in what ended up being a 108-99 setback.
Al Jefferson had 18 points and seven rebounds for Minnesota, which received a 13-point, 13-rebound effort from Kevin Love in his 24th double-double of the season. Ryan Gomes and Jonny Flynn added 16 and 15 points, respectively.
"Guys aren't doing the right things to get wins," Timberwolves head coach Kurt Rambis said of his struggling club.
Minnesota, which traded forward Brian Cardinal to the Knicks on Wednesday for center Darko Milicic and cash considerations, has won three of four and five of its last eight at home.
<< Celtics, Blazers square off at the Rose Garden
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of teams that bolstered their rosters at the trade
deadline meet in the Pacific Northwest Friday when the Boston Celtics resume a
five-game road trip in Portland against the Trail Blazers.
The Celtics are coming
<< Jazz make a stop in Golden State
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The streaking Utah Jazz shoot for their sixth straight road
win Friday in Oakland against the Golden State Warriors.
The Jazz improved to 2-0 on their current four-game road swing Wednesday in
New Orleans when Paul Mi
<< Revamped Bucks visit Pistons
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Newly-acquired guard John Salmons is expected to join the
Milwaukee Bucks tonight, when they close out their season series with the
Central Division-rival Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
The Bucks added Salm
<< Spurs continue road trip versus 76ers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs aim for a third straight win on a
season-long road trip that continues with tonight's matchup with the
Philadelphia 76ers from the Wachovia Center.
San Antonio has posted a 4-2 record thus far on this
Pacers try to end slide against slumping Hornets >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hoping to halt a three-game losing streak, the Indiana
Pacers kick off a four-game road trip this evening at New Orleans Arena
against a Hornets club that continues to struggle without guard Chris Paul.
The Pacers will try
Woods: "I am so sorry" >>
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods apologized for his
behavior on Friday in his first public statement since the Thanksgiving
weekend car accident that led to revelations of marital infidelity.
"I am deeply
Nationals win arbitration case with Burnett >>
Viera, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Nationals have won their
arbitration case with reliever Sean Burnett and will pay the left-hander
$775,000 this coming season.
Burnett, who was seeking $925,000 in arbitration,
Memo to UEFA: Ovrebro must go >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It wasn't quite as high-profile a
match - a Round of 16 contest as opposed to a semifinal - but for the second
consecutive year, Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebro has managed to make a
mess of a
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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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