Billups leads Pistons past Bucks

Basketball Betting Lines

02/21/2007 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chauncey Billups scored 19 points, as the Detroit Pistons held on for an 84-83 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Milwaukee's Mo Williams missed a driving layup in the final seconds of regulation, and the Pistons slapped away the rebound to preserve the win.

Charlie Bell scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Bucks, who fought back from a 15-point first-half deficit, but still fell for the fifth straight game, and for the 15th time in 17 games. Michael Redd returned from a knee injury and contributed 17 points, and Ruben Patterson added 18 points off the bench for the Bucks.

Andrew Bogut scored 15 points for Milwaukee

Rasheed Wallace scored 16 points and pulled down 11 boards for the Pistons, who have won eight of nine. Antonio McDyess added 15 points and seven boards off the bench, and Richard Hamilton finished with 12 points and seven boards for Detroit.

"It was ugly, but I'll take it," said Hamilton.

A Bell layup pulled the Bucks to within 84-83 with 34.7 ticks left, and a Wallace airball on the ensuing possession gave Milwaukee a chance at the win. Williams pushed his running shot hard off the backboard, though, and no one on the Bucks could come up with the rebound in time to get off another shot before the buzzer sounded.

"It was tough," said Bell of the loss. "It's just tough to keep losing this way, on last-second shots."

The Bucks had finally scratched their way into the lead with a 14-6 run to start the second half. A Redd trey kicked off the stretch, and a Bell layup closed it, posting Milwaukee to a 54-53 lead with 7:04 left in the third.

The Bucks led, 64-63, entering the fourth quarter.

The Pistons stretched out an early lead with an 8-0 run midway through the first quarter, capped by a Billups three that put Detroit ahead 16-6 with 6:46 left. The Pistons pushed their lead to 12 points later in the quarter, and led 28-18 entering the second.

Detroit's lead maxed out at 15 points late in the second quarter, at 47-32 with just 2:31 left, but a late Milwaukee run gave momentum to the home team entering the break. The Bucks scored eight straight to close the first half, five points from Bell, who sank a free throw with four seconds left that pulled Milwaukee to within 47-40 at the intermission.

Game Notes

Milwaukee has lost nine straight against Central Division opponents...Bell has scored in double figures in 15 straight games...Detroit outrebounded the Bucks, 48-38.

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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.