Football Betting

Thornton keys late spurt as Hornets beat Clippers

Basketball Betting Lines

03/16/2010 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcus Thornton hit a pair of three- pointers during a big New Orleans run in the fourth quarter, and David West led all scorers with 24 points, as the Hornets pulled away late to beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 108-100, at Staples Center.

Darren Collison continued his solid play with 18 points and 14 assists for the Hornets, who have won 13 straight against the Clippers. Morris Peterson and Thornton each netted 17 to help New Orleans break its seven-game road losing streak.

Rasual Butler led six Clippers in double figures with 19 points. Both Drew Gooden and Baron Davis chipped in 18, while Davis racked up a game-high 17 assists for LA, which has dropped eight in a row.

As per the entire game, New Orleans and the Clippers each took multiple leads in the quarter. Thornton tied the game at 85 with just over eight minutes remaining to start a 19-4 New Orleans run, culminating in a West step-back jumper with four minutes left to give the Hornets the 102-89 edge with 4:02 left.

Included in that burst was 11 straight points, giving the Hornets a 98-87 lead. Thornton hit a pair of three-ball and Peterson added another in that short flurry.

The Clippers trimmed the lead to eight on a Travis Outlaw triple to end the game.

Both teams traded buckets until the Hornets took a seven-point lead at 22-15 with 3:57 to go in the opening quarter on a Peterson triple. New Orleans finished the frame up 26-23.

The Hornets held the edge for most of the second quarter, but the Clippers took the lead at 45-44 on a Davis slam with 1:27 left in the half. DeAndre Jordan then converted on a three-point play to give the Clippers the 50-46 halftime advantage.

New Orleans took the lead back in the third and maintained a 58-54 edge on a Collison triple with just over eight minutes to go. But the Clippers took the advantage back at 59-58 on a Butler three.

The lead went back-and-forth in the final minutes of the period, but a Davis running bank shot gave the Clippers the 78-77 edge after three.

Game Notes

New Orleans shot 56.5 percent for the game...Emeka Okafor scored 12 and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Hornets...The Clippers fell to 16-9 with a lead after three quarters...Collison has double-digit assists in six of his last eight games...Jordan added 11 points and 11 rebounds off the bench for the Clippers.


<< Quinn diplomatic about chance at earning No. 1 QB role
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brady Quinn officially became a member of the Denver Broncos on Monday after passing his physical and was immediately inundated with questions if he'll go into training camp trying to wrestle the startin

<< Red Wings gain three-point edge on Flames
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tomas Holmstrom scored the game-winning goal late in the third period, as the Detroit Red Wings edged the Calgary Flames, 2-1, in a battle between two playoff-hopeful teams at Pengrowth Saddledome. Pavel

<< Boozer, Jazz dominate reeling Wizards
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Boozer led the way with 23 points and nine rebounds, and the Jazz sent the reeling Wizards to their eighth consecutive defeat, 112-89, at EnergySolutions Arena. Deron Williams added 17 poin

<< Brooks sinks winning shot as Rockets stop Nuggets
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Brooks scored 31 points and drained the game-winning jumper with 2.9 seconds left to lift the Houston Rockets over the Denver Nuggets, 125-123 at the Toyota Center. Kevin Martin added 29 points and L

<< Rangers' Hamilton leaves game with hand injury
Surprise, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton exited Monday night's Cactus League game against the San Francisco Giants in the third inning after taking a pitch off his left hand. Giants pitcher Madison B

Jankovic moves on; Azarenka, Clijsters exit at Indian Wells >>
Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Jelena Jankovic snuck into the fourth round, while third-seeded Victoria Azarenka and 14th-seeded Kim Clijsters were third-round losers Monday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open tennis

Bryant and Lakers hang on against Warriors >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kobe Bryant scored 29 points and the Los Angeles Lakers held on for a 124-121 win over Golden State, their ninth straight win over the Warriors. Pau Gasol added 26 points, while Andrew Bynum c

Booker ready for final NCAA chance >>
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) -Devin Booker recalls the frustration of teammate and older brother, Trevor, last weekend after their highly regarded Clemson team was upset in its opening game at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.Devin, a Clemson freshman

Big 12 sets record with 7 NCAA bids >>
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -The Big 12's coaches spent an entire season, even some time before it, telling anyone who'd listen this was the conference's strongest year ever.Turns out, they were right.The Big 12 earned a conference-record seven NCAA tourn

Bobcats aim for franchise-record 7th straight win in Indy vs. Pacers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The surging Charlotte Bobcats will try to stretch their winning streak to a franchise-high seven straight games tonight, when they take on the Indiana Pacers on the road at Conseco Fieldhouse. Charlotte has won six in a ro

MySportsbook.com is the Internet’s largest online sportsbook site serving customers in more than 80 countries worldwide. Founded in 1997, MySportsbook.com was the first sports book to introduce reduced margin wagering, using a -105 pricing model that gives bettors up to 50% better value on wagers than traditional bookmakers. With low minimum bet requirements and the highest maximum limits on the Web, MySportsbook.com has earned an industry leading reputation for providing consistent value to the player, professional customer service and the quickest payouts online. Fully licensed and regulated in Antigua and the UK, the company offers a secure environment for sports betting, horse racing and online casino games.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts credit cards needs.

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.