Lakers carry recent baggage into Big D

Basketball Betting Lines

02/22/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Lakers will attempt to put some off-the-court turmoil behind them tonight when they visit the impetus for much of the acrimony, the Dallas Mavericks.

The Mavs dethroned the Lakers last season, sweeping them out of the playoffs and sending Phil Jackson into retirement with an emphatic 122-86 Game 4 win in the Western Conference semifinals. Dallas, of course, went on to win the franchise's first NBA championship.

More unhappiness in Hollywood developed after the Lakers sent the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, Lamar Odom, to Big D before this season after a proposed three-way trade that would have landed Chris Paul fell through.

Meanwhile, trade rumors are still swirling around Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant ripped LA's management team after a setback in Phoenix on Sunday for allowing his teammate to twist in the wind.

A day can make quite a difference, however, and Bryant was all smiles after scoring 28 points in Los Angeles' 103-92 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.

Gasol totaled 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Andrew Bynum added 14 and 19 in the win, the Lakers' fourth in five games.

Steve Blake scored 14 of his 17 points in a first half that saw the hosts lead by as many as 30. The Blazers' comeback ultimately came up short and they fell for the fourth time in six games.

"In the first half, that's the best we played, especially defensively," Bryant said. "We came out with great energy."

Prior to the game, Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak had responded to Bryant's comments by saying it would serve no purpose to announce publicly whether or not the team will deal Gasol.

After the game Bryant and Derek Fisher held a players-only meeting as the team looks at the daunting task of back-to-back games on the road against West powers Dallas and Oklahoma City. LA is just 5-11 on the road this season vs. 14-2 as the host.

The Mavericks continue to roll, winning for the seventh time in eight games on Monday, a 89-73 rout of the Boston Celtics in north Texas.

Dirk Nowitzki scored 26 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in that one as the Mavs never trailed in handing the Celtics a fourth straight loss.

Jason Terry chipped in 16 points and six assists for Dallas, which took advantage of no Kevin Garnett (personal) and no Rajon Rondo (suspension).

The Mavericks rebounded from Sunday's loss to the Knicks by outscoring the Celtics in the paint, 32-18, and cashing in 25 points off 17 Boston turnovers.

"They were two men down without Rondo and K.G., so a different ball club," Terry said. "They tried to junk up the game and I thought we did an excellent job of being patient and getting what we wanted on the offensive end."

Nowitzki recorded the 1,000th block of his career in the first quarter against Boston, joining Clifford Robinson and Rasheed Wallace as the only players in NBA history with 1,000-plus blocks and 1,000-plus three-pointers. Nowitzki also passed Robert Parish for 20th on the all-time scoring list. He now has 23,354 career points.

Point guard Jason Kidd also reached a milestone, notching three steals to catch Michael Jordan for second place on the NBA's all-time list. Kidd's 2,517 steals now trail only John Stockton's total of 3,265.

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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook

Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).

Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

David Ortiz 8-1

Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

Lance Berkman 40-1

Manny Ramirez 20-1

Richie Sexson 40-1

Ryan Howard 6-1

Travis Hafner 20-1

Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.