Clippers continue road trip in Charlotte

Basketball Betting Lines

02/11/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers continue their lengthy Grammy Road Trip by visiting the Queen City to take on the hapless Charlotte Bobcats.

Chris Paul buried a game-winning shot with 3.2 seconds remaining on Friday as the Clippers improved to 3-1 on their six-game trek with a thrilling 78-77 win in Philadelphia.

A pair of Lou Williams free throws had Philadelphia up, 77-76, with 18 seconds remaining, but Paul hit a twisting, fadeaway jumper near the foul line that proved to be the difference.

Paul finished with a game-high 24, Blake Griffin added 16 and 11 rebounds and Mo Williams scored 14. Former 76er Reggie Evans didn't score, but impacted the contest with 10 rebounds -- five offensive -- in 19 minutes of action.

"One thing I pride myself on is ball handling," said Paul. "I may not make every shot but I feel like I can get any shot that I want because of ball handling. I've always been undersized, so one thing I know is that I can create my own shot."

Los Angeles will finish its trip in Dallas, and is 6-5 as the guest this season as well as a solid 7-2 against the Eastern Conference.

Charlotte, meanwhile, is a miserable 3-23 on the year and enters tonight's contest having matched a franchise record by dropping 13 in a row.

The Bobcats' most recent loss came on Friday when a Derrick Rose-less Chicago team waltzed into Charlotte and destroyed the Bobcats, 95-64. Derrick Brown was the lone Charlotte player to reach double figures in scoring, finishing with 10 as the team matched it's other 13-game skid from Jan. 11-Feb. 1, 2006.

Kemba Walker scored nine points on 2-of-11 shooting from the floor, while Boris Diaw, Bismack Biyombo and Cory Higgins added eight points apiece.

"I don't know what it was. We just weren't in it," said Charlotte head coach Paul Silas.

Bobcats leading scorer Gerald Henderson remains out with a strained hamstring while point guard D.J. Augustin is expected to miss his 10th consecutive game tonight with an injured toe.

The Clippers, of course, are without veteran guard Chauncey Billups, who is out for the season after suffering a torn left Achillies earlier this week.

LA has won two straight and three of its last four over Charlotte.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.