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06/21/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The winds of change are blowing in Dixie but the weather brewing might be a bit chaotic.
Mike Woodson built the Atlanta Hawks from a 13-win team to a 53-win club but a poor performance in the playoffs against Southeast Division rival Orlando was enough for the team's front office to decide change was needed. The Hawks certainly didn't pull a 180, however, and went with Woodson's lead assistant Larry Drew as the new mentor.
Drew inherits a solid, youthful core to build upon but will likely be without All-Star shooting guard Joe Johnson, who is an unrestricted free agent and expected to move on.
Forward Josh Smith and center Al Horford are the stars, while veteran point guard Mike Bibby is still a steady quarterback and Jamal Crawford is coming off a season in which he was named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year.
Forwards Marvin Williams and Maurice Evans, along with center Zaza Pachulia and second-year guard Jeff Teague are all solid rotational players.
Horford is the type of banger every team needs and does a yeoman job in the paint but limiting his minutes in the pivot should be a plus. Meanwhile, Bibby is getting a bit long in the tooth and Teague seems more well-suited as a two- way guard coming off the bench.
The depth is this draft is up front but Atlanta could very well use the 24th pick to round out its backcourt and find the heir apparent to Bibby. Nevada guard Armon Johnson, a lefty with decent size, seems like a nice fit. Johnson should be a 10-to-15 minute guy to give Bibby a blow early on with the ability to turn into a starter down the line.
"Realistically, at that area in the draft, you are looking at the best available player," Drew said.
Players under contract: F Josh Smith; C Al Horford; F Marvin Williams; C Zaza Pachulia; G Jamal Crawford; G Mike Bibby; G Maurice Evans; G Jeff Teague
Free agents: G Joe Johnson (unrestricted); F Joe Smith (unrestricted); C Jason Collins (unrestricted); F Randolph Morris (unrestricted)
Draft picks: 1st round (24th overall), 2nd round (53rd overall)
<< AL East-leading Yankees pay a visit to Chase Field
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees are back in familiar territory atop
the American League East standings and own baseball's best record. They will
try to maintain both tonight in the opener of a three-game interleague series
against the
<< Young hurlers square off in Reds-A's opener
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When the Cincinnati Reds swept the heavily-favored
Oakland Athletics in four games to win the 1990 World Series, Gio Gonzalez and
Mike Leake were probably still using coloring books and watching Sesame
Street.
Now young
<< Nationals hope to get on track versus Royals
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Besides the unveiling of Stephen Strasburg there's not
much to cheer about for the Washington Nationals. A season-high six-game
losing streak will usually do that.
Washington will continue its tour against American Leagu
<< 2010 CFL Eastern Preview - Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Winnipeg, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - FACTS & FIGURES: Division - East. 2009 Record:
7-11. Playoff Result: Didn't Make Playoffs. Stadium - Canad Inns Stadium.
Capacity - 29,533. Colors: Blue and gold.
The 2009 season was certainly a disappoint
Boston Celtics 2010 Draft Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Celtics came up just short in their bid for a second
NBA championship in three years when they fell to their long-time rival, the
LA Lakers, in Game 7 of The Finals.
Now the questions in Beantown revert to the off the
NHL Mock Draft: No surprise at 1-2 >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A breakdown at how The Sportsbook Betting Lines sees
this week's NHL Draft:
1. Edmonton: Taylor Hall (LW), Windsor, OHL
Forget the Taylor versus Tyler debate; Hall will be donning the Blue and Orange
come June 25
Indians demote Huff >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians have optioned pitcher
David Huff to Triple-A Columbus.
Huff is just 2-9 with a 6.04 earned run average in 13 starts this season. He
took the loss on Saturday against Pittsburgh aft
Charlotte Bobcats 2010 Draft Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - As it stands right now the Charlotte Bobcats do not have a
pick in the 2010 draft.
That's not necessarily a a huge concern since Larry Brown really doesn't like
to rely on young players anyway. Two of the team's last three
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.
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