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01/29/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Eastern Conference playoff contenders meet in Central Florida on Sunday when a struggling Orlando team plays host to the Indiana Pacers in the Magic Kingdom.
Orlando has dropped three of four and is coming off a bad loss in the Big Easy on Friday when Carl Landry netted a team-high 17 points and the New Orleans Hornets rolled over the Magic, 93-67, to snap a nine-game losing streak.
Dwight Howard scored 28 points and pulled down 16 rebounds, his 15th double- double of the season, for Orlando, which continued to struggle offensively, shooting just 39.3 percent from the floor and turning the ball over 23 times.
"We were just awful," said Magic head coach Stan Van Gaudy. "It didn't matter what we called. We had no energy coming off of screens, the ball didn't move, guys didn't want to shoot the ball. It's very, very bad right now."
Earlier in the week Orlando set a franchise record for fewest points in an 87-56 road loss to Boston and followed that up blowing a 27-point lead against those same Celtics three says later.
"The three worst losses I think we've had since I've been here and it's in the matter of five days," Van Gundy said. "It's tough to take."
About the only thing that went well for Orlando over the past week was a 102-83 triumph in Indiana between the two Boston contests. Ryan Anderson scored a game-high 24 in that one but was forced to sit out in New Orleans with a strained left calf and remains questionable for tonight.
Also the Magic's starting point guard, Jameer Nelson, left Friday's game against the Hornets in the second quarter after being hit in the jaw but expects to play tonight.
The Pacers, meanwhile, are also coming in off a tough shooting night during a 94-87 setback in Boston on Friday. Danny Granger netted 21 points in that one to lead Indiana, which went a dismal 1-of-19 from beyond the arc.
Center Roy Hibbert was forced to leave the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury, but returned in the third and ended with 11 points and seven rebounds. Paul George contributed 16 points and nine boards while David West has 14 and 8 in the loss.
"We had a lot of great looks that didn't go down," Pacers head coach Frank Vogel said. "Some of that was their defense. You have to credit their defense, they shut Orlando down twice, they shut us down tonight. We didn't play a good game and you have to play a good game to beat this basketball team in their building."
Orlando has won six straight over the Pacers, including last Tuesday's win in Indy.
<< NHL's best clash at All-Star Game in Ottawa
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 59th edition of the NHL All-Star Game is on tap for
today, as Team Alfredsson's hometown favorites take on Team Chara at Ottawa's
Scotiabank Place.
This marks the second straight year that the NHL has forgone the Easte
<< Bulls kick off monster road trip in Miami
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Eastern Conference heavyweights square off on the
shores of Biscayne Bay Sunday afternoon when LeBron James and the Miami Heat
play host to Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls in a rematch of last season's
conference
<< Djokovic outlasts Nadal in epic Aussie final
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Novak Djokovic became only the fifth
man in the Open Era to win three straight major titles when he outlasted
Rafael Nadal in Sunday's marathon final at the 2012 Australian Open. Djokovic
and Nadal battl
<< Rock wins in Abu Dhabi; Tiger ties for 3rd
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robert Rock trumped some of
the best players in the world Sunday, including fellow third-round co-leader
Tiger Woods, to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
Rock shot a two-under 70
Mavs and Spurs renew rivalry in Dallas >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Longtime Lone Star State rivals meet with first place in
the Southwest Division on the line as the Mavericks welcome San Antonio
to Big D.
Dallas, the reigning NBA champs, and the Spurs, the defending division champs,
bot
Hawks and Hornets tangle in the Big Easy >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Hornets hope to build on their first win in over two
weeks when they host the Atlanta Hawks in the Big Easy.
New Orleans tasted victory for the first time since Jan. 9 on Friday when Carl
Landry netted a team-high 17 p
Wolves aim to snap long skid vs. Lakers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Lakers will finish a two-day tour of the Midwest on
Sunday aiming for their 16th consecutive win over the much-improved Minnesota
Timberwolves.
The Wolves haven't beaten LA since March 6, 2007 but this is a much differ
Hoosiers host Hawkeyes in Big Ten battle >>
Bloomington, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ranked 16th in the nation to close out the
week, the Indiana Hoosiers try to get back to .500 in Big Ten Conference play
this evening as they entertain the Iowa Hawkeyes at Assembly Hall in
Bloomington.
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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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