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11/01/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat will attempt to secure their second win in as many nights when they travel to Charlotte to face the Bobcats in Larry Brown's home debut as the head coach.
Miami superstar Dwyane Wade had 20 points, eight assists and four steals as the Heat got their first win of the season with a 103-77 romp over the Sacramento Kings at American Airlines Arena on Friday.
Rookie Michael Beasley added 17 points and nine rebounds while Udonis Haslem chipped in with 14 points and six boards for the Heat, who bounced back from their season-opening loss against the Knicks in New York to give new coach Erik Spoelstra his first career NBA victory.
LeBron James ruined Brown's first regular season game as the Bobcats coach, narrowly missing a triple-double with 22 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, as the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated Charlotte, 96-79, Thursday.
It also kept Brown winless since he took over the team. Although it was the regular season opener for Charlotte, the Bobcats also went 0-8 under Brown in the preseason.
Brown replaced Sam Vincent, whose honeymoon phase as an NBA head coach was a quick one, as the Bobcats relieved the first-year head coach following a 32-50 mark last season.
Jason Richardson had 24 points for the Bobcats, who shot a woeful 33.8 percent from the field. Gerald Wallace had 13 points and D.J. Augustin, the ninth overall pick in this year's draft, ended with 12 points.
Charlotte has won five of the past six meetings between the two teams.
<< Celtics look for third straight win against Pacers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After opening the season with two impressive wins at home,
the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics try their luck on the road for the
first time in 2008-09 as they travel to Indiana for the Pacers' home opener.
Kevin Gar
<< Sixers to test Hawks in Atlanta
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers head to Dixie to take on Atlanta in
the Hawks' home opener at Philips Arena Saturday.
The Sixers opened the season by splitting a pair of home games. After a
lackluster loss to Toronto in the season-
<< Kjeldsen leads after round two of Volvo Masters
San Roque, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Soren Kjeldsen managed an even-par 71 on
Saturday to finally complete the weather-plagued second round of the season-
ending Volvo Masters.
Kjeldsen finished 36 holes at six-under 136 and is two clear
<< In-Kyung Kim takes over lead in homeland
Incheon, South Korea (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South Korean In-Kyung Kim posted a
three-under 69 Saturday and took a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the
Hana Bank - KOLON Championship.
Hee-Won Han also carded a 69 Saturday to move into a share
Gone dry: Oilers try to halt skid in road test with Hurricanes >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After opening the season with four straight wins, the
Oilers have gone cold at both ends of the ice. Edmonton will attempt to halt a
five-game losing streak this afternoon in a test with the Carolina Hurricanes
at the RBC Cen
Bruins return home to face Stars >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins begin a three-game homestand tonight,
when they welcome the Dallas Stars to TD Banknorth Garden.
Boston is returning home from what can be considered a successful three-game
road trip. Netminder Tim Thoma
Semin leads Caps into Buffalo to battle Sabres >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With their star Alexander Ovechkin struggling and over in
his native Russia, the Capitals have relied on his countryman to pick up the
scoring. Alexander Semin will try to lead Washington to another win tonight,
as the club v
Rangers aim to extend hot start against Maple Leafs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Off to their best start in franchise history, the New York
Rangers head north this evening to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air
Canada Centre.
New York was last in action on Thursday, when it posted a 3-2 win over
At
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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