Hawks welcome Pistons to Dixie

Basketball Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The playoff bound Atlanta Hawks return to the cozy confines of Philips Arena Saturday to take on a Detroit Pistons team headed for the NBA Draft Lottery.

The Hawks salvaged the finale of their recent three-game road trip on Thursday in Washington when Jamal Crawford came off the bench to score a team-high 29 points to lead Atlanta to a tight 105-99 victory over the lowly Wizards.

Joe Johnson and Al Horford each netted 18 points for the Hawks, who were coming off losses in Miami and New York. Mike Bibby chipped in with 16 points for the victors.

"He's been fantastic all year. He's been a big part of what we do," Atlanta coach Mike Woodson said of Crawford. "We rely on him to score the ball, also play defense and help us rebound. He's made big shots for us, run our offense. He's put us in position where we are today."

The Hawks are now dead even with Boston for the third seed in the Eastern Conference and will try and improve on their stellar 25-7 home record tonight.

The Pistons, meanwhile, are also coming off a win over Washington in their most recent affair on Friday night. Will Bynum provided a spark with a career- best 20 assists in that one, helping Detroit beat the Wizards for a sixth straight time, 101-87, at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Tayshaun Prince, Jonas Jerebko and Richard Hamilton all scored 18 to pace the Pistons. The three combined to shoot 24-of-45 for the game.

Ben Gordon chipped in 17 off the bench and Jason Maxiell tallied 12 points and 10 boards for the Pistons, who recorded just their second win in nine games.

"I thought Will Bynum did a great job of getting 20 assists," said Pistons coach John Kuester. "I think he really did a nice job of getting us into our offense."

Bynum was in the starting lineup for Rodney Stuckey, who missed his third straight game last night after collapsing on the bench during a loss in Cleveland on March 5. Extensive cardiac tests on Wednesday provided some good news and Stuckey, who is averaging a career-best 17.1 points per game, has been allowed to resume exercising but there is no timetable for his return to the floor.

Detroit snapped a three-game series losing streak with a 94-88 win in Auburn Hills back in November.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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