Surging Jazz shoot for another win over Pistons

Basketball Betting Lines

03/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Keeping up with Denver in both the Northwest Division and Western Conference standings could get a bit easier tonight for the Utah Jazz, who will shoot for their 10th straight win over the Detroit Pistons.

Utah has won 11 of the its last 12 meetings with Detroit and is unbeaten in its past four trips to The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Jazz needed overtime to top the Pistons back on November 21 of this season, though, as Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko totaled 22 points apiece in the 100-97 triumph and combined to score all 10 points in the extra session.

The Jazz have won three in a row overall and opened a four-game road trip with Tuesday's 132-108 drubbing of the Chicago Bulls at the United Center behind 28 points and a game-best 17 assists from Deron Williams. C.J. Miles scored 26 points off the bench and Boozer notched a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds for Utah, which sits a game behind the Nuggets in both the division and conference standings. Denver is currently third in the West, just a game back of Dallas.

"I like to see guys compete out there," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "[Tuesday] those guys competed hard the whole game."

Sloan's bunch will also visit Milwaukee and Oklahoma City and are 16-14 away from Salt Lake City.

Detroit put the brakes on a six-game losing streak with a 110-107 overtime victory versus Houston on Sunday in the opener of a three-game homestand. Tayshaun Prince registered a season-high 29 points and 10 rebounds, while Richard Hamilton totaled 22 points with eight assists.

"The last three minutes we buckled down and got some fast break opportunities," said Prince, who is averaging 20.2 points and 5.8 rebounds in his last five games. "Pretty much did a good job rebounding the basketball late, going to overtime. Our defense stayed intact."

Hamilton is averaging 23.3 points in his last four home games.

The Pistons will close out the residency on Friday versus Washington and are 15-17 at home in 2009-10.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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