Pistons resume homestand with visit from Wizards

Basketball Betting Lines

03/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Eastern Conference also-rans continue playing out the string tonight in Auburn Hills, where the Detroit Pistons play host to the Washington Wizards.

The Pistons fell to 1-1 on a three-game homestand Wednesday, when Deron Williams paced a balanced attack with 18 points and 12 assists as the Utah Jazz trounced Detroit, 115-104.

Charlie Villanueva paced the Pistons' attack with 19 points and Richard Hamilton put up 16 in the defeat, Detroit's seventh in eight games. Will Bynum had 14 points, Jonas Jerebko scored 13 and Tayshaun Prince and Ben Gordon each had 11.

Jason Maxiell provided 10 points and 11 boards for the Pistons.

"They're outstanding," said Pistons head coach John Kuester of the Jazz. "Deron Williams is one of the best point guards in the league. There are certain teams that come with a blue-collar work ethic that you have to come out with a lunch pail and be ready to go at them."

Pistons star guard Rodney Stuckey missed his second straight game after collapsing on the bench during a loss in Cleveland on March 5. Extensive cardiac tests Wednesday provided some good news and Stuckey, who is averaging a career-best 17.1 points per game, has been allowed to resume exercising. There is no timetable for his return to the floor, however.

The Wizards, meanwhile, lost their fifth straight game on Thursday, a 105-99 setback to Atlanta in the nation's capital. Jamal Crawford scored a team-high 29 points for the Hawks in that one.

Andray Blatche ended with 30 points and 10 rebounds but had seven of Washington's 21 turnovers. JaVale McGee and Nick Young posted 20 and 17 points, respectively, in the loss.

"When the other team scores 32 points off turnovers, you really don't give yourself much of a chance," Washington coach Flip Saunders said. "Turnovers basically killed us. You can't let a team score 30 or more points off your offense basically."

The Pistons have won five straight over the Wizards and will be shooting for a season sweep of the series tonight.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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