Bobcats top Clippers; Wallace hurt ankle
Basketball Betting Lines
03/12/2010 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen Jackson poured in 14 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter while dishing out six assists, as the Charlotte Bobcats continued their stellar play at home with a 106-98 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Bobcats have won four in a row as the host and improved to 24-8 at Time Warner Cable Arena, setting a franchise record for home victories in a season.
Gerald Wallace added 17 points and six rebounds before leaving right before halftime with a sprained left ankle. Boris Diaw ended with 16 points and five assists, while Tyson Chandler donated 13 points and nine boards off the bench.
Raymond Felton had a near triple-double with 10 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds for Charlotte, which has won five in a row for the first time since a six-game tear from January 9-20.
Baron Davis finished with 24 points, seven assists and five steals for the Clippers, who have dropped nine straight on the road to fall to 7-27 as the guest this season.
Rasual Butler chipped in 18 points, while Travis Outlaw and Drew Gooden each tallied 16 points. Chris Kaman added 13 points and 11 boards for Los Angeles, which has lost six in a row.
The Bobcats scored the final eight points of the first quarter to take a 31-23 lead.
Ahead 44-39 near the midway point of the second, Charlotte closed the half on a 17-6 run to create some breathing room. With 1.5 seconds remaining, Wallace stole the ball from Davis and went racing the other way for a layup. Davis pushed Wallace from behind on the attempted layup and was called for a flagrant foul type 1. Wallace sprained his left ankle on the play, but was able to make 1-of-2 from the line to give the Bobcats a 61-45 margin at the break.
Charlotte led by as many as 18 in the third and took an 80-68 advantage into the fourth.
Ahead 88-79 with eight minutes to go in the fourth, the Bobcats went on a brief 7-2 flurry. Jackson's trey had Charlotte in front 95-81 with five minutes to play.
The Clippers never got closer than seven the remainder of the way.
Game Notes
The Bobcats have won five of their last six meetings with the Clippers, although Los Angeles' only victory during that span was a 98-94 decision at the Staples Center on February 22...The Clippers haven't prevailed in an enemy arena since a 90-82 win over Chicago on February 2.
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What Is the Point Spread?
What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
How to Read Point Spreads
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.