Celtics kick off homestand vs. Raptors

Basketball Betting Lines

02/01/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It appears the Boston Celtics are back on track and will commence a five-game homestand tonight versus the Toronto Raptors at TD Garden.

Boston will also host the Knicks, Grizzlies, Bobcats and Lakers, and is 6-6 in Beantown this season. It has won five of six games and recorded a 93-90 victory at Cleveland on Tuesday at Quicken Loans Arena thanks to 20 points from Paul Pierce.

Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass both finished with 13 points for Boston, which earned a split of a home-and-home series with the Cavs after dropping an 88-87 decision Sunday.

"I thought in Boston we didn't handle their pressure really well," said Garnett. "I thought tonight we responded with buckets and execution."

Boston point guard Rajon Rondo missed his seventh straight game due to a wrist injury and he is out indefinitely. Big man Jermaine O'Neal was back in the lineup after missing some time with a balky knee.

Toronto has dropped two of three games since posting consecutive wins and is coming off Tuesdays 100-77 setback versus the Atlanta Hawks.

Jerryd Bayless scored 14 points and Ed Davis recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 boards for Toronto.

"We came out with a competitive spirit, but I didn't think we sustained it long enough," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "I was disappointed in not sustaining the competitive spirit, especially in the second quarter when the game got out of hand."

Toronto's Andrea Bargnani missed his third straight game with a left calf strain and he is out indefinitely. The Raptors will play three of their next four games on the road and are 5-9 away from Air Canada Centre this season.

The Raptors suffered a 96-73 loss at Boston on Jan. 18, as Rondo scored a game-best 21 points. Gary Forbes scored 18 points to pace a Raptors team that was held to 37.7 percent shooting in the game.

The Celtics have won four straight and 12 of the last 13 meetings with Toronto, losers in seven straight and 16 of 18 trips to TD Garden.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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