Spurs shoot for season sweep of Hornets

Basketball Betting Lines

03/05/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs will try to sweep the season series from the New Orleans Hornets when the two Southwest Division rivals go at it tonight from the AT&T Center.

San Antonio has won the first three matchups between the teams and hasn't swept the season series from the Hornets since the 2006-07 campaign. The Spurs have won four straight and 14 of 18 games against the Hornets, who have dropped four in a row and 10 of their last 11 trips to the Alamo City.

The Spurs, who sit seventh in the West, have won their last two games and are coming off Monday's win at New Orleans Arena thanks to 23 points and five rebounds from George Hill. Tim Duncan added 22 points and nine rebounds, while Tony Parker chipped in 18 points and six assists. Manu Ginobili tallied 13 points and eight assists off the bench for San Antonio, which shot 50.6 percent from the field.

"He's been good for us on both ends of the court," Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said of Hill. "In his sophomore year here, he's done a good job at both ends. We're not surprised when he makes shots or does what he did tonight."

The Spurs are 21-10 as the host this season.

New Orleans will try to put the brakes on a four-game road losing streak Friday. It has dropped three in a row overall and suffered a 104-100 setback at home versus the Memphis Grizzlies despite Marcus Thornton's 24 points off the bench. Rookie Darren Collison added 17 points and 14 assists, while Peja Stojakovic provided 18 points and nine boards in defeat.

David West finished with 15 points for the Hornets, who sit five games off the eighth and final postseason spot in the Western Conference.

"As a team, I don't think we have a good rhythm. We're not playing fluid basketball. We need to come in and have a good practice and go down to San Antonio and get competitive with them," West said.

The Hornets are 11-20 as the visitor in 2009-10.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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