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03/08/2010 - Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carmelo Anthony posted 30 points to lead Denver to a 118-106 victory over Portland in a Northwest Division battle.
J.R. Smith chipped in 22 points, and Chauncey Billups ended with 21, as the Nuggets shot 58.9 percent from the field to cap a 3-0 homestand.
Nene donated 14 points and seven rebounds for the victors.
Jerryd Bayless scored 24 points to lead the Trail Blazers, who received 19 points from Andre Miller and 16 from LaMarcus Aldridge. Portland had won five of six coming into the game.
Brandon Roy made just 3-of-14 from the floor for 12 points in defeat.
"Every time we would get it under 10, we would turn the ball over, miss some free throws or just something to allow them to get their momentum back," Blazers head coach Nate McMillan said.
Bayless hit from behind the arc and converted a three-point play to pull the visitors within 90-83 two minutes into the fourth quarter, but Denver answered with the next eight points.
Johan Petro ended the flurry with two free throws for a 15-point margin, and the Nuggets coasted from there.
"To beat a team like [Portland] with basically having an 8-to-10 point lead most of the night is a great win for us," Nuggets head coach George Karl said.
Denver scored the final nine points of the first quarter to pump its lead to 34-21. A Billups layup capped an 11-2 run with a layup for a 61-41 cushion with less than two minutes in the opening half.
The halftime score was 66-49, and the Trail Blazers were still down 89-75 going into the final stanza.
Game Notes
Anthony has scored 30-plus points in his last three games...Portland's Marcus Camby sat out due to an ankle injury, while Denver was without Kenyon Martin (knee) for a second straight game...Arron Afflalo had 13 points, and Petro had 10 rebounds and six points for Denver...Rudy Fernandez tallied 14 points for the Blazers.
<< WTA renews partnership with Sony
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The WTA Tour and Sony Ericsson announced
a two-year extension of their existing partnership on Sunday.
The deal will now keep Sony as the lead global sponsor for the tour through to
the end of 2012.
"
<< Trail Blazers-Nuggets, Box
PORTLAND (106)Batum 2-7 0-0 4, Aldridge 6-14 4-5 16, Howard 4-6 0-2 8, Miller 7-15 5-6 19, Roy 3-14 5-6 12, Fernandez 5-9 0-0 14, Pendergraph 0-0 0-0 0, Bayless 6-10 9-11 24, Webster 1-6 1-2 4, Cunningham 1-1 3-4 5. Totals 35-82 27-36 106.DENVER
<< Durant, Thunder drop Kings
Sacramento, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Durant scored 27 points, grabbed eight
rebounds and dished out five assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder stayed hot
with a 108-102 win over the Sacramento Kings.
Russell Westbrook added 21 points a
<< Patriot League Tournament Recaps
Easton, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jared Mintz hit the go-ahead jumper with 35
seconds left and finished with 14 points, as Lafayette held on for a 66-63 win
over Holy Cross in the Patriot League semifinal.
Jim Mower had a team-high 17 poi
Minus Parker, Spurs ready for clash with Cavs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - News out of San Antonio wasn't good this weekend with the
recent hand injury to Tony Parker. The Spurs hope they can get by without one
of their leaders starting with tonight's showdown against LeBron James and the
Cleveland
Hawks aim to bounce back against reeling Knicks >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Hawks didn't open their current road trip the
way they had planned this past weekend, but seem to have a good shot at
bouncing back Monday night against the New York Knicks at Madison Square
Garden.
Atlanta ha
Mavs visit T-Wolves, shoot for 12th straight win >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The red-hot Dallas Mavericks will try to stretch their
season-high winning streak to 12 games when they close out a short road trip
tonight against the woeful Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center.
Dallas kept its lo
Grizzlies, Nets collide in Memphis >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Memphis Grizzlies will attempt to put their current
home woes behind in this evening's clash with a New Jersey Nets squad that
enters FedEx Forum off a rare positive result.
Memphis has lost eight consecutive c
Kansas City, MO - Kansas City has not officially named Matt Cassel its starting quarterback, but there can be no doubt now.
NFL Betting
After praising his leadership and work ethic through spring workouts, the Chiefs announced Tuesday they had signed the 27-year-old Cassel to a multiyear contract. Terms were not disclosed, but he will almost certainly be one of the highest-paid members of the team.
"We are excited to be able to reach a long-term agreement for Matt Cassel to be a Kansas City Chief for many years to come," owner and board chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement. "His proven leadership on and off the field will be a tremendous asset to the organization."
Patriots made him their franchise player, meaning his salary for this season will be about $15 million.
New head coach Todd Haley, taking over for Herm Edwards after a 2-14 season, refused to name a starter at any position during offseason workouts. But it was obvious to everyone the team belonged to Cassel.
"I go out there each and every day with that focus that I'm the starter," Cassel said during a June minicamp. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
The signing will come as welcome news to Cassel's new coaches and teammates. Amiable and hardworking, online football betting he appeared to win over everyone at minicamp.
"I think he's got some unique leadership qualities. I think his teammates like him and have respect for him. I think he's doing a pretty good job on the field, too," Haley said last month. "He's doing everything that I'm asking him, that our coaches are asking him to do. I don't have one single complaint how he's carrying himself."
After one workout, wide receiver Devard Darling declared Cassel "a breath of fresh air."
"He has a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. It's good for us," said Darling. "We trust in him that he's going to go out there and lead us all the way."
nse to accommodate his specific abilities.
Trapped on the bench behind Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and then unable to unseat Super Bowl MVP Brady at New England, Cassel seemed destined to be a backup all his life. As Brady was helped off the field last September, Cassel seized the opportunity he'd been waiting for since high school.
In his only sustained action since his teens, he hit 349 of 555 passes for 3,949 yards at New England. He had 23 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions as the Patriots, who had gone unbeaten through the regular season the year before, finished 11-5 and out of the playoffs.
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who had been Bill Belichick's assistant in New England, engineered the trade after the Patriots became convinced that Brady would recover fully from his knee operation.
"Since Matt arrived in Kansas City, he has embraced the team and the community," Pioli said. "His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players."
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My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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