Sixers, Knicks meet in Philly

Basketball Betting Lines

03/15/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third place in the Atlantic Division is on the line tonight in Philadelphia.

Of course, third place doesn't mean all that much if you are entering the contest at 23-43 like the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers.

New York, however, is showing more signs of life than Philly and is coming off one of its most impressive wins of the season on Saturday when Bill Walker scored a career-high 23 points and the Knicks were an efficient 16-of-30 from beyond the arc, helping them snap Dallas' 13-game winning streak with a resounding 128-94 victory at American Airlines Center.

Walker went 5-of-8 from long distance, and Toney Douglas made all four of his three-point shots, on the way to a 21-point effort for New York, which posted its first victory over the Mavericks since January 11, 2006 at Madison Square Garden. Dallas had beaten New York eight consecutive times.

The Knicks, who beat the Mavs for just the second time in the last 17 encounters, also won at Dallas for the first time since December 16, 1999. Before Saturday, the Knicks had lost nine straight road games to Dallas. It was also the largest margin of victory for the Knicks over the Mavs.

The performance from three-point range for the Knicks was a sharp contrast to the putrid effort from the team exactly a week ago when they went an NBA record 0-of-18, on the way to a 20-point home loss to New Jersey.

Wilson Chandler tallied 22 points and Al Harrington chipped in 20 for New York, which shot 56.2 percent from the field. David Lee ended with 15 points, 14 boards and seven assists.

"When we can get a game where we can make shots and string them together, get three or four stops at a time," Harrington said. "We can beat anybody. We're just happy that we were able to bounce back from last night's debacle to win this one tonight."

The Sixers, meanwhile, seemed to have checked out on embattled coach Eddie Jordan and lost for the ninth time in 10 games on Sunday in Miami. Dwyane Wade poured in 38 points on 14-of-25 shooting in that one, pacing the Heat to a 104-91 wire-to-wire victory.

Jason Kapono led Philadelphia with 17 points, while Andre Iguodala went for 15 points, nine assists and six rebounds in the loss.

Thaddeus Young and Jrue Holiday had 14 and 12 points, respectively, in defeat.

"One-on-one is not the problem [guarding Wade]," Iguodala said. "It is the pick-and-rolls. He got into the teeth of the defense and got layups."

The Sixers and Knicks have split a pair of meetings so far this season with each club winning on the other's home floor.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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