Division leaders clash in Big D when OKC visits Mavs

Basketball Betting Lines

02/01/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of the top teams in the Western Conference square off in Big D tonight when the Oklahoma City Thunder visit the reigning NBA champion Mavericks.

After a dismal 1-4 start to the season the Mavs have started to hit their stride, winning a third straight game and improving to 14-8 on the season Monday in Phoenix.

Veteran Delonte West drained five of Dallas' season-high 14 three-pointers en route to 25 points in that one as the Mavericks thumped the Steve Nash-less Suns, 122-99, at US Airways Center.

"We caught a break with Nash not playing. I don't think you can overlook that as a big factor in the game," Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle said.

Vince Carter also had five treys and finished with 21 points while Shawn Marion had 20 points and five rebounds for the Mavs, who have now defeated the Suns eight consecutive times and lead the Southwest Division by a game over San Antonio.

In his second game back since sitting out four contests to rest a balky knee and work on conditioning Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 points.

"We place a high standard on our play," Carlisle said. "And when you get off to an abysmal start like we did, it's painful. But we've climbed out of that and we've got to understand that just because we're winning and playing well now, there's nothing guaranteed and we've gotta keep working at it."

Veteran point guard Jason Kidd is expected to miss his third straight game tonight with a strained right calf but the athletic Roddy Beaubois has stepped it up in his absence, netting 14.7 points and 7.0 assists over his past three contests.

The Northwest Division-leading Thunder, who also pace the entire Western Conference with a 16-4 mark, lost for the first time in five games on Monday in LA when Chris Paul scored 26 points and dished out 14 assists as the Clippers jumped out early and rolled past Oklahoma City, 112-100, at Staples Center.

Kevin Durant scored a game-high 36 points on 14-of-23 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds, while Russell Westbrook stuffed the stat sheet with 31 points with five steals, four assists and four rebounds for the Thunder. Daequan Cook added 12 off the bench for Oklahoma City, which fell to 8-3 as the visitor this season.

"This is our first bad game in 20," coach Scott Brooks told the Thunder's website. "That's the bottom line, we had a bad game. One of the things that this team does well that I'm proud of is they bounce back. You play 20 games, you have one bad game, I think any team in this league will live with that."

Dallas, of course, topped OKC in five games during last season's West finals on its way to the franchise's first NBA title. The clubs have also already met twice in 2011-12 with each team holding serve on its home floor.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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