Jazz tie series with OT win; Kobe fights through injury

Basketball Betting Lines

05/11/2008 - Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Deron Williams poured in 29 points and doled out 14 assists as the Utah Jazz survived a late surge and downed the Los Angeles Lakers, 123-115, in overtime to knot their Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece.

Kobe Bryant scored 33 points and had 10 assists, but was hampered by a back injury and struggled from the field, shooting 13-for-33 and 1-for-10 from beyond the arc.

Mehmet Okur scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Utah, and Andrei Kirilenko added 15 points. Carlos Boozer ended with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Kyle Korver scored 14 points off the bench for the Jazz.

Utah finished the game 37-of-45 at the foul line.

Lamar Odom had 26 points and 13 rebounds, and Pau Gasol added 23 points and 10 boards for the Lakers, who won their first six playoff games, but will head back to LA after consecutive losses in Salt Lake City, where the Jazz are 41-5 in the regular season and playoffs.

Derek Fisher scored 15 points off the bench, including 10 straight in the fourth quarter to lead the LA comeback.

Game 5 of this best-of-seven series is scheduled for Wednesday at the Staples Center.

<< Crawford's HR carries Rays to sweep of Angels
St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carl Crawford blasted the go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays used 15 hits to beat the Angels, 8-5, completing a three-game weekend sweep. Crawford had three h

<< Braun leads Brew Crew past Cards
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Braun's fourth career multi-homer game helped the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the third of a four-game set at Miller Park. Jeff Suppan (2-2) gave up one run

<< Twellman returns to lead New England over Chivas
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Taylor Twellman scored less than 15 minutes into his season debut Sunday and the New England Revolution defeated Chivas USA 2-1 in Major League Soccer. Twellman missed New England's first seven matches followi

<< KC's Bannister shuts down O's
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brian Bannister was virtually untouchable through eight innings as the Kansas City Royals avoided a four- game sweep with a 4-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Bannister (4-4) took th

<< Lakers' Turiaf ejected for flagrant foul
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Lakers forward Ronny Turiaf was ejected from Sunday's Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals series with the Utah Jazz for a flagrant foul on Jazz guard Ronnie Price. Early in the sec

Gagne relieved of closing duties for Brewers >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost announced before Sunday's 5-3 win over St. Louis that Eric Gagne had been relieved of his closer duties and will approach the ends of games with a closer-by- committ

Atletico Madrid pulls level with Barcelona >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Diego Forlan scored as Atletico Madrid edged Deportivo, 1-0, to pull even in points with third-place Barcelona, which blew a two-goal lead in a 3-2 loss to Mallorca on Sunday in the Spanish La Liga. Atletic

Cubs top D-Backs >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daryle Ward's two-run pinch-hit double in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted the Chicago Cubs over the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-4, to complete a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field. The start of g

Flyers' Coburn struck in face by puck, leaves game >>
PITTSBURGH (AP) -Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn was struck in the face with a shot by Pittsburgh's Hal Gill early in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday night.Gill took a shot from the left point that apparently deflected o

Holm's first career homer propels Giants past Phillies >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Holm's first major league home run in the bottom of the seventh inning drove in the winning run, as the San Francisco Giants edged the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3, in the rubber match at AT&


Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards


Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.