Suns, Nuggets clash at Pepsi Center
Basketball Betting Lines
02/14/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver halted one losing streak on the road in its last outing and will now try to stop its longest skid at home in nearly a decade when they play host to the Phoenix Suns.
Ty Lawson scored 27 points on Saturday to lead the Nuggets to a 113-109 win over the Pacers on Saturday, snapping a four-game hiccup for George Karl's club.
Denver had five scorers in double figures, including 23 points from Arron Afflalo and 19 from Corey Brewer, who returned to the lineup after a three- game absence due to the death of his father
"It was a great win for us. Obviously Ty [Lawson] was spectacular the whole night," said Karl. "We got back to being a solid offensive team, passing the ball and spacing well."
The Nuggets have dropped five straight at the Pepsi Center and are an uncharacteristic 7-7 as the home team this season. It's the longest losing streak for Denver in the Rockies since a seven-game slide from Feb. 6-March 2, 2003.
"Our opponents have been coming in here with more energy than us," Afflalo told the Nuggets' website. "It's got to be the opposite. We have to feed off the crowd and take pride in defending our home court."
On the injury front for Denver, leading scorer Danilo Gallinari remains out with a chip fracture in his left ankle while center Timofey Mozgov will miss a sixth straight game tonight with a sprained left ankle. Nene, meanwhile, is listed as day-to-day with a left calf strain.
The Suns, meanwhile, dipped to 1-1 on a three-game road trip in Oakland on Monday, falling to the Golden State Warriors, 102-96.
Marcin Gortat paced Phoenix in that one with 25 points and 12 boards, while All-Star Steve Nash had seven points and handed out 14 assists. The Suns, who opened up a grueling back-to-back-to-back stretch last night, had won four of five coming in. Channing Frye added 18 points in the loss.
"We didn't execute, we didn't come up and we didn't make shots," Suns head coach Alvin Gentry said. "In order to beat a team on the road, especially a team when they turn the defense up, you've got to be able to execute."
Phoenix will finish its three games in three nights stretch at home versus Atlanta on Wednesday.
Denver has won seven of the last eight games in this series played at Pepsi Center.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah just might be a sitting duck when it finishes a grueling three games in three nights road stretch tonight in Oklahoma City. The Jazz lost to the Thunder, 101-87, in Salt Lake City last Friday and has played
<< Lin leads Knicks into Toronto
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Linsanity goes north of the border this evening when Jeremy
Lin and the New York Knicks shoot for a sixth straight win against the Toronto
Raptors at Air Canada Centre.
One night after netting a career-best 38 points
<< Bulls open homestand against Kings
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Back home after a successful and lengthy road trip, the
Central Division-leading Chicago Bulls are scheduled to play their next six
games on familiar territory and will host the Sacramento Kings tonight.
The Bulls own an E
<< Rockets wrap up road trip in Memphis
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets will wrap up a six-game road trip
tonight against the Southwest Division-rival Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum.
The Rockets are 3-2 on the journey and suffered a 106-97 loss at Golden State
the last ti
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the road and will resume a nine-game Rodeo Road Trip tonight against the lowly
Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
The Spurs have won seven in a row ov
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers will try to halt a rare losing streak at the Rose Garden when they play host to a Washington Wizards team coming in off its second road victory. The Blazers had been a gaudy 11-1 in Rip Ci
Hawks commence trek against Lakers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta will kick off a five-game road trip tonight at
Staples Center when they take on a Lakers team returning from its annual
Grammy trek.
The Hawks, who will also visit Phoenix, Portland, Chicago and New
Devils try to bounce back in Buffalo >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Devils will try to get back in the win
column this evening when they visit the Buffalo Sabres for a clash at First
Niagara Center.
The Devils had won a season-high five straight heading into a two-game
home
Blues roll into Columbus >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Blues will try to extend their winning streak
to a season-high five games when they visit the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets
tonight at Nationwide Arena.
St. Louis is in the midst of its fifth four-game win stre
Sens begin road trip in Tampa >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After having little success on a recent five-game
homestand, the Ottawa Senators hope to have more luck when they kick off a
road trip tonight by battling the Tampa Bay Lightning at Tampa Times Forum.
The Senators went 1-2
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Horse Betting
(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).
The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.