APRIL 21 HOME - SPORTS NEWS - SPECIAL EDITION PART 6
NBA PLAYOFFS SPORT NEWS & MLB NEWS
NBA PLAYOFFS- LeBron James was a late scratch from the Cleveland Cavaliers game against the Boston Celtics on Monday with a sprained left ankle.
James, who hurt the ankle in Cleveland`s loss to Detroit on April 12, originally missed one game before playing 29 minutes in Cleveland`s 104-92 loss to Washington on Sunday.
But with the Cavaliers locked into the fourth seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs, James said it wasn`t worth risking further injury with the playoffs starting this weekend.
``Record-wise and going into the playoffs, we can`t improve,`` James said. ``I`m trying to get as much rest as I can. I don`t want to try to force the action by playing on an ankle that`s not 100 percent.``Flip Murray replaced James in the starting lineup. James averaged 38.3 points and 7.7 assists per game against the Celtics this season.
NBA PLAYOFFS- Bulls staying hot going into NBA playoffs:
The Chicago Bulls still don't know where they'll figure in the standings when the playoffs start. If they keep playing this well, it might not matter.
Kirk Hinrich had 26 points and 10 assists and Andres Nocioni scored 24 to help the Bulls beat the Orlando Magic 116-112 in overtime on Monday night.
Chicago has won five straight and with a little bit of help can move up to the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls (40-41) are currently tied for sixth with Indiana and Milwaukee and a half-game behind Washington. Chicago hosts Toronto on Wednesday in its regular season finale
NBA PLAYOFFS- Clippers @ Grizzlies Preview:
In most years, this would have been the ideal scenario for the Los Angeles Clippers: All they have to do is lose. Now that they're headed to the playoffs, they say they won't at least not on purpose.
The Clippers visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night, the most intriguing matchup in a playoff race that remains murky going into the final days of the season.
The loser would appear to have more to gain than the winner. A better postseason draw awaits the team that finishes lower in the standings.
I don't think anybody's going to do anything intentionally to try and lose a game because there's too much pride in this locker room," Clippers center Chris Kaman said. "I think Mike (Dunleavy) is way too competitive for that. He gets mad over the smallest detail on defense, so how could he ever be like that?"
Memphis (47-33) is a game ahead of Los Angeles for fifth place in the Western Conference, and each team has two games remaining. The Grizzlies will clinch the No. 5 seed with a victory Tuesday night.
NBA PLAYOFFS- The playoff-bound Suns are almost impossible to beat when they are shooting the ball well.
Leandro Barbosa scored 21 points and Phoenix made a season-high 20 3-pointers to beat New Orleans 115-78 on Monday night.
The Suns' total was only one short of the NBA record set by the Toronto Raptors against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 13, 2005.
We did shoot the ball extremely well from the 3 and we will do that occasionally, Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said in an obvious understatement.
With their 20 3s, the Suns extended their NBA record this season to 824. Phoenix is the first team in NBA history to average 10 or more for an entire season. Their previous team record for 3s was 19, against the Los Angeles Lakers on April 11, 2005
NBA PLAYOFFS- A game neither team wants to win. A line moving seven points. The Detroit Pistons possibly being home underdogs to an Eastern Conference team.
Welcome to the wacky and wacked final days of the NBA regular season, which mercifully ends Wednesday. This is the time I hate the most, says Mike Seba, senior oddsmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants. Linesmakers and bookmakers have good reason to detest these last few games before the real action – the playoffs – finally begin.
Did you happen to see what the Sunday night overnight line on the Pistons-Milwaukee Bucks game was? LVSC, which services many of Nevada’s hotels, had Detroit -2. Some internet books had Pistons -1.
By early Monday afternoon the Bucks were up to 5-point favorites because the game meant nothing to Detroit. The Pistons had already clinched home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, while the Bucks were fighting for playoff seeding.
If it were a normal game, Detroit would be -4 or -4 ½,” Seba says.
But these aren’t normal times. So don’t look for LVSC to put out any overnights for Tuesday and Wednesday’s games.
It really is difficult right now, Seba says. I wouldn’t recommend putting out anything overnight. We’ll wait until the morning and rehash everything and then put the numbers out.” It’s a crazy time because games are meaningless for some teams, while there are playoff implications for others.
Because of this some bettors prefer to blindly play ‘over’ the total during the last two days. It depends, Seba says when asked if linesmakers are shading totals upward in anticipation of this. “If you have teams resting starters, then generally there’s not a whole lot of defense played. It just depends on the matchup and how high you would make the total.
But generally you would lean towards the higher number on the total.
Not surprisingly, sides get shaded when teams in must-win spots meet teams who already are out of it, or have their playoff position locked in. The question here is how much to shade.
In the case of Monday’s Pistons-Bucks matchup, it wasn’t nearly enough. Bookmakers sometimes get the feeling these lines can run forever no matter how much the must-win side gets shaded initially.
It’s a time you can get beat and give back a lot of the profits you made, Seba says about bookmakers. Some bookmakers get so defensive they scale back limits to ridiculously low proportions. Binion’s Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, for instance, is reluctant to take more than $100 now on an NBA regular-season over/under. These shoemakers, err bookmakers, should remember that for every game there is a number no matter what the circumstances or situation. You have to project if the starters are going to play and then how much they’re going to play,” Seba says.
This logic applies to Tuesday’s Los Angeles Clippers-Memphis Grizzlies matchup. This is a case where neither team really wants to win because of playoff seeding. Both would rather draw the sixth-seed instead of No. 5 because the sixth-seed gets third-seeded Denver in the opening round of the playoffs.
Both the Clippers and Grizzlies would get home-court advantage against the Nuggets on the basis of each of them having a superior record. The Nuggets get the third seed because they won the Northwest Division title.
The Clippers and Grizzlies would much rather face Denver than either San Antonio or Dallas. The Clippers are 0-3 against the Mavericks. The Grizzlies are 0-4 against the Spurs and have failed to score more than 83 points in any of their four games against San Antonio.
The Clippers have been doing their best to drop to No. 6 losing four of their last six, with their only victories during this span coming against Seattle and Portland, which has the fewest wins in the NBA. Seba says he will treat the Clippers-Grizzlies line just like a regular line because both teams have similar incentive – lose.
They’re both in the same situation, he says.
What probably won’t be treated like just a regular line is Wednesday’s matchup between the Pistons and Washington Wizards. The Pistons have nothing to play for except a chance to set a franchise record for home wins in a season, while the Wizards are locked in a struggle with Chicago, Indiana and Milwaukee to avoid being the No. 8 seed in the East and thus draw Detroit in the opening round.
That means the Wizards probably are going to be laying points against the Pistons in Detroit. Seba was thinking of making Washington -3 or -3 ½ if the Wizards need to win to avoid being the eighth seed.
“These are freaky lines the last couple of days,” Seba says. “Some of them don’t make any sense at all when you first see them.”
Consider yourself warned.
NBA- Top For in this weeks NBA Power Rankings:NBA Power Rankings Rank Team Power
1 Dallas Mavericks -6.92
2 Detroit Pistons -6.36
3 San Antonio Spurs -5.41
4 New Jersey Nets -4.26
NBA PLAYOFF- Piston Rest Starters going into nba playoffs:
Finally, the Milwaukee Bucks didn't bobble a big opportunity.
Locked in a three-way struggle for playoff positioning, Milwaukee took advantage of a Detroit Pistons team resting two of its top three scorers with a 113-93 victory Monday night. It was a game the Bucks should have won -- but they haven't always won games they're supposed to this year. "It speaks a lot about our team, because we've been up and down all year long," Michael Redd said.
The victory allows Milwaukee to regain momentum after a head-scratching home loss to Atlanta on Friday night, and gives the Bucks a temporary leg up in their seeding scrum with Indiana and Chicago
NBA- Iverson wants to stay in philly:
Allen Iverson has heard all the trade rumors, but his position remains the same.
Yeah, I mean I want to be a Sixer, Iverson said after Monday`s practice. ``It`s all about if the organization wants me to be here. I haven`t changed about wanting to be here. Honestly, I want what`s best for me. I owe a lot to the organization, so I want what`s best for them as well.
For all the sometimes-deserved criticism that Iverson shoots too much or doesn`t necessarily make his teammates better, he`s one of the few 76ers that can be counted on to give maximum effort every game. He`s second in the league in scoring (33.0 ppg), is shooting 43 percent and averaging 7.6 assists - all better numbers than when he led Philadelphia to the NBA Finals.
NBA - The New York Knicks took out an insurance policy on Larry Brown's contract that would free the team from paying the remainder of the coach's contract if he's forced to resign due to health issues, the New York Daily News reported Monday.
The newspaper, citing an anonymous league source, reported that the Knicks made the move when Brown signed his record five-year, $50 million contract. The newspaper also said the contract would not prevent Brown from taking another NBA or college job if he and the Knicks part ways.
- hot betting lines for friday april 14, 2006
The Pistons ride a four-game under streak into tonight`s game.
Milwaukee at New York– Bucks -6 ½
Usually when a coach goes down, his team shifts into win-one-for- the-Gipper mode and its bettors enjoy some short-term value. But this is the New York Knicks were talking about, and after Larry Brown was wheeled out of Quicken Loans Arena with oxygen tubes up his nose last night his players decided to call it an evening.
Up 67-60 on the Cleveland Cavaliers after three quarters, the Knicks were outscored 31-20 in the fourth to lose 91-87 as 6-point underdogs. And this was a Cavs team that was resting LeBron James for the postseason. According to the New York Post, Brown was diagnosed with stomach acid reflux (a minor condition) and he isn’t expected to be on the sidelines when Milwaukee visits tonight. The Knicks managed to cover six points against the Cavs, but they had Brown around for the opening three quarters. If the final 12 minutes of that game was any indication, this one could get real messy.
Portland at L.A. Lakers - Blazers -13
Just as their stock is hitting rock bottom at the sportsbooks, the Blazers are starting to play with a little fire. Although Wednesday’s 97-93 loss to the L.A. Clippers as 13 ½-point dogs was their fourth straight loss and the 30th of their past 35 games, they took a lot of positives as well as a payday out of that contest.
With Zach Randolph, Darius Miles and Juan Dixon sitting out against the Clips, the Blazers got a much-needed spark from their younger players. Rookie Jarrett Jack tied his career high with 20 points and had seven assists. Second-year forward Viktor Khryapa added 14 points, six boards and four assists, while third-year forward Travis Outlaw added eight points and a career-high nine rebounds.
We are really not into moral victories, but I do respect the way they played tonight, coach Nate McMillan told reporters. We were without a number of guys and the young guys came out and fought, played together and did the things we have been talking about all season. Tonight, they face a Lakers team that’s looking to clinch a playoff berth. The Purple and Gold have dropped two of three to Portland this year and they`ve found the Blazers’ ever-shifting lineup makes it hard to get a read on the team.
It`s difficult for our team to focus on them because they play 10 guys, coach Phil Jackson told the Los Angeles Times. They`re starting different people, they`re a talented young team. They could be two different teams in different nights.
New Jersey at Boston – Nets -1
Cut the Nets some slack if their play has been a little sub-par lately.
The 14 straight wins they rattled off to clinch the Atlantic Division left them a little sluggish and they’ve dropped three of the last four straight up and ATS. But keep in mind that two of those defeats came against Chicago and Philadelphia, who are still fighting to stay in the playoff picture. The key is it`s hard to simulate that desperation, coach
Lawrence Frank told the New Jersey Star Ledger.
They’ll face no such desperation in Beantown tonight. Wednesday’s loss to Indiana mathematically eliminated the Celtics from the postseason, which will make it difficult to get up for this contest. Meanwhile, the Nets are looking to gain momentum to carry them into the postseason and the Garden figures to be a great place to find it.
After going on the run that we did, we don`t want to finish the season (like this), forward Cliff Robinson said, "(We need to) go out and play the way we`re capable of so we`re not going into the playoffs with doubt."
Detroit at Toronto – under 193 Toronto’s playoff hopes died about two months into the campaign and now that the season’s winding down, little remains for the Raptors to do besides pad their scoring stats.
At least that appears to be the thinking behind the lofty total on this tilt.
Problem is, with starting forwards Chris Bosh (thumb) and Matt Bonner (ankle) done for the season, the team is missing nearly 30 points per game worth of offense and the buckets aren’t coming so easily. The Raptors are averaging just 94.6 points in their last five (down from 101 on the season) and the last four have cashed in the under.
Tonight, they face a Detroit team that’s gearing up for another playoff run and we all know what the Pistons’ calling card is. They’ve held their last five opponents to 82 points per game and also ride a four-game under streak into this tilt.
- Utah center Greg Ostertag said Monday night he will retire after the season. I've run out of gas, Ostertag said after the Jazz's 115-82 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, who has played 11 seasons in the NBA. "I'm tired of being on the road. I just don't have it." Ostertag, who has been in the NBA for 11 years, played in 59 games this season. He had a disagreement with Utah coach Jerry Sloan earlier this year and was suspended one game without pay for conduct detrimental to the team on Jan. 28.
He hasn't played in four of the past five games. He's averaging 13.6 minutes per game.
NBA PLAYOFFS- Spurs still number 1 in west: Home-court advantage and some rested players could mean a lot when the playoffs start.
The defending champion San Antonio Spurs got both Monday night.
Manu Ginobili scored 18 points and Tim Duncan added 16 to help the Spurs clinch the Southwest Division title and the best record in the Western Conference with a 115-82 rout of the Utah Jazz. The Spurs earned the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs.
"It's great to get [home court] wrapped up," Duncan said. "I'm feeling good right now -- feeling healthy. I think we all feel pretty good right now, and that's the main thing."
San Antonio (62-19) took a 19-point lead into the fourth quarter and led by 36 points, allowing the Spurs to rest their starters as the playoffs draw near.
Duncan hit 7-of-13 shots and had five rebounds in 22 minutes. He left the game and did not return with 3:54 remaining in the third quarter when the Spurs had a 14-point lead. Ginobili played 25 minutes.
NBA- Mike Montgomery will return to coach the Golden State Warriors next season, top executive Chris Mullin said Monday night before the Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers 93-79 in their home finale in their 12th consecutive losing season.
Montgomery enters the final game against Utah with a 68-95 record in two seasons with the Warriors, who hired him away from Stanford after 18 seasons as a top college coach.
Mullin, who took over as the Warriors' executive vice president of basketball operations four months before hiring Montgomery, affirmed his commitment to the coach despite another underachieving season for a team that's missed the playoffs for a league-worst 12 straight years.
NBA PLAYOFFS- pacers get critical road win going into NBA PLAYOFFS: The Indiana Pacers didn't want to go into the playoffs with a road losing streak.
Peja Stojakovic scored 27 points and the Pacers ended a nine-game road skid with a 120-95 rout over the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.
Stojakovic was one of four Indiana players to have at least 20 points before the start of the fourth quarter.
Anthony Johnson added 22, Stephen Jackson had 21 and Jermaine O'Neal 20 for the Pacers, who are trying to improve their seeding in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Indiana already clinched its ninth straight playoff appearance.
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