Pacers seek another road win in Atlanta

Basketball Betting Lines

02/08/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indiana Pacers target their fourth straight win on the road when they take on the Atlanta Hawks tonight at Philips Arena.

Indiana is 10-5 as the visitor this season and will also visit Memphis on its quick two-game road trip. It has won five of six overall and recorded a 104-99 triumph versus the Utah Jazz last night in the Hoosier State.

Darren Collison scored a season-high 25 points and added four rebounds, while Roy Hibbert added a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Pacers, who improved to 17-7 on the season. Danny Granger scored 12 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, as Indiana pushed its mark to 16-0 this season when scoring 90-plus points.

"We moved the ball well, made passes and got other people open. Danny came through in big fashion in the fourth quarter. He picked us up when we really needed it," said Hibbert.

The Pacers scored 100 or more points for the fifth time this season, and for the fourth time in six games.

Atlanta is winless so far this month (0-3) and will close out a four-game homestand tonight versus the Pacers.

The Hawks fell to 0-3 on the residency and 8-4 at home with Monday's 99-90 loss to the Phoenix Suns, as Josh Smith and Joe Johnson totaled 18 and 17 points, respectively, in defeat. Willie Green scored 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.

"I think every team is going to go through a tough stretch and right now we're going through one," Green said.

The Hawks had won three straight and nine of 11 games before their recent slide. Jason Collins (sprained left elbow) and Al Horford (torn left pectoral muscle) are still out for Atlanta. Johnson is 59 points shy of becoming the seventh Hawk to reach 10,000 points.

Atlanta dropped a 96-84 decision at Indiana on Jan. 11 this season. Granger scored 24 points to lead the Pacers, while Smith scored 16 points to lead Atlanta, which has lost two straight to the Pacers since a nine-game winning streak. Indiana, however, is winless in its last eight games at Philips Arena.

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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.