Anderson ices the game at the line as Bobcats top Hornets

Basketball Betting Lines

02/21/2007 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Raymond Felton scored 21 points and doled out 11 assists, and the Charlotte Bobcats topped the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, 104-100.

Gerald Wallace also tallied 21 points, and grabbed seven rebounds for the Bobcats, who won their second in a row. Emeka Okafor was a force, finishing with 16 points, 15 rebounds, and five blocked shots. Adam Morrison added 18 points off the bench, and Derek Anderson scored 12, including two clutch free throws with 6.4 seconds left to ice the game.

Chris Paul scored 20 points and tallied seven assists for the Hornets, who had won 9 of 12 entering the game. Tyson Chandler finished with 16 points and 20 boards, Desmond Mason scored 17 points and grabbed six boards, and David West scored 16 points and racked in seven boards for the Hornets.

A Jannero Pargo three pulled the Hornets to within 102-100 with 31.5 seconds left, and Felton gave the Hornets a golden opportunity by missing a jumper from the lane with seven seconds left. Okafor tipped the rebound up in the air, though, and Anderson drew a loose ball foul from Devin Brown. Anderson sank both free throws, clinching the win.

Paul opened the second half with a three, spurring a 10-0 Hornets run that nudged them on top of the Bobcats, 54-53. The teams battled neck-and-neck for the rest of the quarter, almost coming to blows at on point.

Charlotte's Jake Voskuhl fouled Paul as the Hornets guard drove the lane, drawing a referee's whistle with 5:14 left in the third. Voskuhl did not let go of Paul's left arm, though, and the second-year guard spiked the ball off of Voskuhl's arm, causing a commotion under the basket, with players from both teams shoving each other.

When the dust settled the referees handed out five technicals, including fouls to Voskuhl and Paul.

The Hornets led 78-77 entering the fourth quarter.

The Bobcats led 25-24 after the first quarter, and 53-44 at the half.

Game Notes

Brevin Knight was a late scratch for the Bobcats with a sore right groin...Charlotte is now 11-9 when scoring 100-plus points...The Hornets outrebounded the Bobcats, 47-36.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

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MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

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