Heat, Lakers meet for third straight year on Christmas Day
Basketball Betting Lines
12/25/2006 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Lakers and the defending world champion Miami Heat hook up for the third straight year on Christmas Day, as the teams battle in the only NBA contest of the day at AmericanAirlines Arena.
On Christmas Day in 2004, Dwyane Wade scored four points in overtime to help lift the Heat past Los Angeles, 104-102, at the Staples Center, while Shaquille O'Neal registered 18 points and 17 rebounds to lead Miami to a 97-92 victory over the Lakers on Christmas Day in 2005 at AmericanAirlines Arena.
Shaq, who was acquired in a blockbuster deal from the Lakers on July 14, 2004, will not participate in today's game as the All-Star center is sidelined after having surgery on his left knee in November. O'Neal is averaging 14.0 points and 7.5 rebounds this season. He last played on November 12th against the Houston Rockets.
O'Neal and superstar Kobe Bryant won three championships together with the Lakers. The 34-year-old O'Neal spent eight seasons with fellow All-Star Bryant and the Lakers,
The Lakers play the fourth of a six-game road trip. They are 2-1 on the swing. Bryant was suffering from a chest cold, but still had 21 points and a season- high 11 assists to lead the Lakers to a 99-95 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Friday at Continental Airlines Arena.
Smush Parker scored 13 points in the win over New Jersey for the Lakers, while Maurice Evans ended with 12 points for LA, which has won two in a row and six of its last nine games overall.
LA is 5-5 on the road this season. The Lakers are scheduled to visit the Orlando Magic on Wednesday and the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday in the finale of the current trip.
The Heat conclude a brief two-game homestand. On Saturday, Jason Kapono came up huge off the bench for Miami, scoring a career-high 27 points to lead the Heat to a 105-92 dismantling of the Golden State Warriors.
Wade netted 18 and dished out eight assists in the win over the Warriors for Miami, while veteran center Alonzo Mourning had 14 points and six rebounds for the Heat, who have won three of their last four games overall. Udonis Haslem had 13 points and 10 boards, and Jason Williams finished with 10 points, nine assists and six rebounds for Miami.
Miami is 5-7 at home this season. The Heat will visit Ben Gordon and the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday at the United Center.
This is the first of two meetings between the clubs this season. The Lakers are scheduled to host the Heat on January 15, 2007 at the Staples Center.
These teams have split the last six contests in this series. The Lakers have lost two straight and three of their last four at Miami.
The Lakers are in second place in the Pacific Division and trail the Phoenix Suns by one game, while the Heat are 3 1/2 games behind division-leading Orlando in the Southeast.
NEW YORK (AP) -The 83 remaining free agents:AMERICAN LEAGUEBALTIMORE (4) - Bruce Chen, lhp; Russ Ortiz, rhp; Fernando Tatis, 3b; Chris Widger, c.BOSTON (4) - Keith Foulke, rhp; Gabe Kapler, of; Mark Loretta, 3b; Trot Nixon, of.CHICAGO (3) - Sandy Al
<< NCAA Division I-A Touchdown Passes, Season
57 - Colt Brennan, Hawaii, 200654 - David Klingler, Houston, 199052 - B.J. Symons, Texas Tech, 200347 - Jim McMahon, Brigham Young, 198046 - Andre Ware, Houston, 198946 - Tim Rattay, Louisiana Tech, 199845 - Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech, 2002Copyrigh
<< Brennan breaks TD passing record as Warriors win Hawaii Bowl
Honolulu, HI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan broke the NCAA
single-season touchdown passing record, throwing for five scores, all in the
second half, and a school-record 559 yards, as the Warriors beat Arizona
State,
<< Hawaii's Brennan breaks NCAA single-season TD passing record
Honolulu, HI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hawaii junior quarterback Colt Brennan broke
the NCAA single-season touchdown passing record, throwing his 55th in the
Hawaii Bowl Sunday against Arizona State
Brennan has three touchdown passes in the game, b
<< Chargers rally for win, but Seahawks clinch division
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philip Rivers did it again, rebounding from a
horrid start to lead the Chargers to a comeback victory, 20-17, over Seattle.
Despite the defeat, the Seahawks clinched their third straight NFC West title
by vi
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Maryland, North Carolina, and now Duke, hold the top three spots in the latest Associated Press women's college basketball poll as Oklahoma tumbled out of the third spot and all the way down to eight. With
UCLA remains on top of poll; Clemson and Tennessee join Top 25 >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the fifth consecutive week, UCLA
remained atop the Associated Press college basketball poll.
The Bruins (11-0) crushed Michigan, 92-55, and also dismantled Sam Houston
State this past week
NFL Inactives (Monday, December 25, 2006) >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The following is a list of the players
placed on the inactive squad for this week's NFL games.
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES AT DALLAS COWBOYS, 5:00 P.M. (ET)
Eagles - RB Ryan Moats, G Max Jean-Gilles, T Pat McCoy
Wade thrives, Heat shut down Kobe >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dwyane Wade had a spectacular Christmas
afternoon, scoring 40 points, dishing out 11 assists and tying a career-high
with four blocked shots, as the Heat rolled to a 101-85 over the Los Angeles
Lakers.
Big Unit going back to Diamondbacks? >>
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Randy Johnson's days with the New York Yankees
could be numbered.
According to a report in the Newark Star-Ledger, the Yankees are in
discussions with the Diamondbacks to trade Johnson, a five-time
Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.