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Clippers crush Thunder

Basketball Betting Lines

11/20/2008 - Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Kaman led a balanced attack with 25 points and 14 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 108-88, in a battle of the league's two worst teams.

With a combined record of 2-19 coming into the contest, the Clippers and Thunder had the two worst winning percentages in the NBA.

Cuttino Mobley added 23 points and seven steals for Los Angeles, which snapped a three-game losing streak. Al Thornton added 20 points and seven rebounds in the win. Marcus Camby and Baron Davis each had 14 points for the Clippers.

Kevin Durant had a team-high 18 points for the Thunder, who have now dropped nine straight games since a win over Minnesota. Damien Wilkins scored 17 points, while Russell Westbrook came off the bench to score 10 points and dish out four assists.

"We did a poor job getting in some sets," Thunder head coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "Our transition defense was non-existant in the second half. We have to do a heck of a lot better job."

Down three at halftime, Los Angeles started the third on a 16-8 spurt to seize a 65-60 edge. Joe Smith's jumper pulled the Thunder to within three, but the Clippers scored the next 12 points to take a 77-62 lead. LA outscored Oklahoma City, 32-16, in the third quarter to take a commanding 81-68 lead to the fourth.

The Clippers were able to maintain that lead until late in the final quarter, when the visitors increased their advantage to 20, at 99-79, with about three minutes to go. LA was able to cruise to the victory from there.

"We play well for spurts, (but) it's very frustrating," Smith said. "We gotta come together. It's not about one individual. I mean, we gotta come together and find a way to do it as a whole. We have good enough talent on this team that if we do it the right way we can win games."

Durant and Green each scored seven in the first quarter, and Oklahoma City led, 26-20, after the opening period.

Durant's monstrous dunk with 4 1/2 minutes left in the half finished off a 7-0 spurt that gave the Thunder their largest lead at 13. But the Clippers closed on a 16-6 run, as Thornton's nine second quarter points helped close to within three at halftime.

Game Notes

The Thunder shot 50 percent (5-of-10) from long range and 100 percent (23- of-23) from the free throw line. They only shot 40 percent (30-of-75) from the field overall...LA shot 47.4 percent (46-of-97) from the field...Oklahoma City committed 20 turnovers, as compared to just 10 for the Clippers...Camby had nine rebounds, and Davis had eight assists...Kaman had six assists...Oklahoma City F Chris Wilcox returned after missing five games with a knee injury. In 13 1/2 minutes of action, he posted four points and four rebounds.


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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.