Cavs closing in on Central title; visit Pistons

Basketball Betting Lines

03/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NBA's best road team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, will pay a visit to the Detroit Pistons Tuesday night at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

The playoff-bound Cavs have won 14 of their last 19 road games and are 23-11 away from Quicken Loans Arena this season. They have won three in a row overall and recently handed the Boston Celtics a 104-93 defeat on Sunday in Cleveland, as NBA leading scorer LeBron James contributed 30 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

James, who is averaging 29.9 points this season, scored 24 of his points in the second half and also collected three blocks and two steals. Antawn Jamison returned from a one-game absence (knee) to register 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who never trailed in the second half en route to their ninth win in 10 games overall.

"I thought that we played the right way. Usually when you play a team like Boston, the most aggressive team is going to win, (not just) offensively, but defensively too," Cavs head coach Mike Brown said. "I thought that we were aggressive on both ends of the floor throughout most of the game."

Anderson Varejao added 17 points and 10 boards in the win. Cleveland's magic number to clinch its second straight Central Division crown is two.

The Pistons have dropped two straight, three of four and nine of their last 11 games, including Monday's 119-93 decision against the Celtics in Beantown. Will Bynum had 16 points and seven assists for banged-up Detroit, which is winless in its last seven road games.

Jason Maxiell had 11 points and 10 rebounds in a losing effort.

"They did a great job of exploiting and we didn't react tonight," Pistons coach John Kuester said. "It was one of the few games that our energy wasn't the way it should be and I'm disappointed with the way we played."

Detroit center Ben Wallace missed his seventh straight game due to a sore right knee. The team, which is also playing without Rodney Stuckey, lost forward Tayshaun Prince to a back injury in the first quarter. Prince is listed as questionable for Tuesday's game versus the Cavs.

Cleveland has won the first two meetings with the Pistons this season and five in a row overall. Detroit is 13-4 in the last 17 matchups as the host.

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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.