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02/08/2012 - Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kris Joseph scored a career-high 29 points and hit the game-winning shot in overtime, as No. 2 Syracuse downed No. 12 Georgetown, 64-61, on Wednesday.
The Orange (24-1, 11-1 Big East) have won four straight since a loss at Notre Dame on January 21. They got 11 points and seven rebounds from Fab Melo, who returned from a three-game absence in Saturday's rout of St. John's.
With Wednesday's victory, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim surpassed the legendary Dean Smith for third on the all-time Division I list with 880 career wins.
Otto Porter had a team-high 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Hoyas (18-5, 8-4), who had won two in a row and five of six coming in. Jason Clark added 12 points and Hollis Thompson finished with 10 and 11 boards.
<< No. 11 Michigan State hangs on vs. PSU
East Lansing, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Draymond Green had 23 points and 12
rebounds and No. 11 Michigan State led wire-to-wire to beat Penn State, 77-57,
at Breslin Center on Wednesday.
Penn State cut the Spartans' advantage, as large
<< Cavs G Irving out with a concussion
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers rookie point guard Kyrie
Irving has been ruled out of Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers
due to a concussion. He is listed as day-to-day.
Irving suffered the concussion aft
<< Astros and SS Lowrie agree to terms
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros and shortstop Jed Lowrie
agreed to terms on a one-year contract Wednesday, avoiding arbitration.
He was acquired from Boston in a trade in December that saw Houston also get
pitcher Kyl
<< Coastal Carolina to host five in Moglia's first season
Conway, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Coastal Carolina will open the Joe Moglia era by
hosting North Carolina A&T and has four other home games as part of a 2012
football schedule announced on Wednesday.
Moglia was hired in December as the secon
Bucks pull away to beat Raptors >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Six Bucks scored in double figures, including
Carlos Delfino's season-high 25 points, as Milwaukee knocked off the Toronto
Raptors, 105-99, at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday.
Linas Kleiza's free throws wit
Lin shines again as Knicks down Wizards >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeremy Lin's amazing debut continued
Wednesday as the undrafted point guard recorded 23 points and 10 rebounds as
the New York Knicks downed the Washington Wizards, 107-93.
Lin made his second car
Cavaliers hang on to down Clippers >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In his first start of the season in place of
the concussed Kyrie Irving, Ramon Sessions outplayed Chris Paul, scoring 24
points to go with 13 assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers took down the Los
Angeles
Howard, Anderson lead Magic over Heat >>
Orlando, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Anderson scored 27 points, Dwight Howard
added 25 and both players had double-doubles to lead the Orlando Magic to a
102-89 win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday.
The Magic made 17 three-pointers and
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.
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:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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