Wade thrives, Heat shut down Kobe
Basketball Betting Lines
12/25/2006 - Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dwyane Wade had a spectacular Christmas afternoon, scoring 40 points, dishing out 11 assists and tying a career-high with four blocked shots, as the Heat rolled to a 101-85 over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Wade, who also had four steals, went 12-of-20 from the field and missed just one of his 16 free throws, as Miami won for the fourth time in five games. Jason Kapono added 11 points and Dorell Wright 10 for the Heat, who dominated on the boards by a 45-31 count.
It was the first time this season the Heat have beat a team with a winning record (1-9).
Kobe Bryant was limited to 16 points for the Lakers, who had a two-game winning streak broken. It was his lowest point total since his second game of the season when he had 15 November 5 at Seattle. He went 4-of-17 from the floor and missed all four of his shots beyond the arc.
Ronny Turiaf tallied 13 points and seven rebounds, while Luke Walton scored 10 for Los Angeles, which shot 39.2 percent from the field. That included a 5-of-23 clip from three-point range.
Even though a pair of legendary NBA coaches faced each other in the Lakers' Phil Jackson and Miami's Pat Riley, the game was without some of its luster due to injuries to Lakers forward Lamar Odom and Heat center Shaquille O'Neal,
Jason Williams knocked down a three-pointer in the opening minute of the game and the Heat were on top the rest of the way, progressing to their fourth consecutive home win.
Wright jammed and had a jumper during a 6-0 Heat run later in the first, as Miami widened its lead to 17-8. Antoine Walker's layup ended the first period with the Heat ahead 30-16.
Bryant and the Lakers faced an uphill battle for the final 36 minutes, and the Lakers couldn't come up with big defensive stops and were hampered by poor shooting. Turiaf's dunk had LA within 41-35 with 3:14 remaining in the half and Vladimir Radmanovic's layup cut it to a five-point deficit before James Posey's bucket ended the second quarter with the Heat up 47-40.
Walton's bank shot brought the Lakers within 53-48, but Miami came right back with Wade opening some breathing room. His driving jam widened the margin to 64-52 with 5:08 left in the third. Wade had 18 points in the quarter, and Miami held a commanding 74-64 lead going into the fourth.
The lead didn't dip under eight in the final period. A 13-4 spurt in the closing minutes sealed the win. Kapono banged in a trio of threes during the stretch for a 101-82 margin with just over a minute left.
Game Notes
The Heat have won the last three Christmas Day games against the Lakers and have won four of the last five in the series...Alonzo Mourning had nine points, eight rebounds and three blocks before fouling out for Miami...Odom and O'Neal are sidelined with knee injuries.
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The following is a list of the players placed on the inactive squad for this week's NFL games. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES AT DALLAS COWBOYS, 5:00 P.M. (ET) Eagles - RB Ryan Moats, G Max Jean-Gilles, T Pat McCoy
<< UCLA remains on top of poll; Clemson and Tennessee join Top 25
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the fifth consecutive week, UCLA
remained atop the Associated Press college basketball poll.
The Bruins (11-0) crushed Michigan, 92-55, and also dismantled Sam Houston
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New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Maryland, North Carolina, and now Duke, hold
the top three spots in the latest Associated Press women's college basketball
poll as Oklahoma tumbled out of the third spot and all the way down to eight.
With
<< Heat, Lakers meet for third straight year on Christmas Day
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Lakers and the defending world champion
Miami Heat hook up for the third straight year on Christmas Day, as the teams
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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro
While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.