Sizzling Thunder welcome Lakers to OKC

Basketball Betting Lines

02/23/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Basketball fans will receive a nice treat before the NBA All-Star break with tonight's matchup between two of the league's best, as the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder play host to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers from Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The Thunder share the NBA's best record with the Miami Heat at 26-7 and have won 11 in a row at home, where they are 14-1 this season. The Thunder are averaging 107.9 points per game during their home winning streak and last won 12 straight as the host twice under head coach George Karl during the 1997-98 campaign when the team resided in Seattle.

Oklahoma City will wrap up a five-game residency tonight and has won four straight overall and six of seven games, including Wednesday's 119-104 victory over the Boston Celtics thanks to 31 points, six assists and five rebounds from Russell Westbrook. Kevin Durant did his part, as usual, with 28 points, nine boards, six assists and four steals for the Thunder, who made 50 percent of their shots and scored 24 points off 18 Boston turnovers.

"I thought in the first half we moved the ball extremely well," Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. "In the second half, we got the big lead and got a little sloppy."

Sloppy or not, the Thunder own a comfortable lead atop the Northwest Division standings and got 17 points apiece from James Harden and Daequan Cook. In Brooks' defense, his team almost blew a 26-point lead to New Orleans on Monday before watching a 27-point advantage vanish versus the Celtics. Westbrook has been on fire over his last three games, averaging 34 ppg.

After hosting the Lakers in OKC, the Thunder will kick off a three-game road trip through Philadelphia, Orlando and Atlanta after the break.

Los Angeles has been dealing with off-the-court issues lately with trade rumors and players-only meetings, but that hasn't stopped the team from winning two straight and five of six games.

On a night Bryant struggled for 15 points on 4-of-15 shooting, Pau Gasol -- the subject of those trade rumors -- picked up the slack in last night's 96-91 win at Dallas with 24 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.

"I thought our guys did a nice job of executing down the stretch," said Lakers coach Mike Brown. "I feel like offensively we're getting a little better, but right now our end of game execution isn't quite where I want."

Andrew Bynum finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds and Derek Fisher added 15 points for Los Angeles, which is one game behind the Clippers for Pacific Division supremacy. The Lakers didn't get a chance to play against former forward Lamar Odom due to a family issue. Odom was dealt to the defending NBA champion Mavericks in the offseason.

The Lakers are just 6-11 as the guest this season and will begin a three-game homestand versus the Timberwolves, Kings and Heat after the All-Star break. They took two of three meetings from Oklahoma City a year ago and have won 14 of the past 16 meetings between the teams.

LA is facing a dangerous Thunder team on the road, however, but has prevailed in seven of the previous eight matchups as the visitor in this series.

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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.