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NBA Basketball Betting

Mavs kick off road trip in Oakland vs. Warriors

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02/08/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Southwest Division-leading Dallas Mavericks will hit the road for three games starting with Monday's contest against the Golden State Warriors at ORACLE Arena.

Dallas will also visit Denver and Oklahoma City on the road trip, and owns a 16-10 mark outside of Big D this season. It has lost four of its last five games, including Friday's 117-108 setback versus the Minnesota Timberwolves at American Airlines Center.

Dirk Nowitzki finished with 21 points and eight rebounds for the Mavericks, who lost to the Timberwolves for the first time since January 4, 2006. Nowitzki didn't get the start because he was late for shootaround. Jason Terry tallied 20 points, while Rodrigue Beaubois added a season-high 17 points off the bench in defeat.

"We're not going to be good until we play hard," Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle said. "But look, they shot 55 percent in the first quarter, the second quarter was by far our best when they shot 43 and we did a much better job, more proactive. They shot 60 in the third and 55 in the fourth. Those numbers don't lie. We had another disappointing loss."

Terry has started the last nine games and has scored 20-plus points in six of those for the Mavs, who are an NBA-best 14-4 in games after a loss.

Golden State will try to put the brakes on an eight-game losing streak tonight and will resume a three-game homestand. In a 104-95 setback versus the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, Corey Maggette scored 24 points and rookie Stephen Curry tallied 23 points for the Warriors, who got 11 points and a career-high 11 boards from Anthony Tolliver.

"Not a good performance by us today, we just didn't look like a team tonight," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "I had a lot of guys that didn't play well and all at the same time. When you turn the ball over 23 times in this league it makes it pretty hard to stay competitive. There will be nights like this, but we will lick our wounds tomorrow and get ready to play."

Andris Biedrins had 18 rebounds in defeat and Monta Ellis scored 15 points. Nelson is still 11 wins away from breaking Lenny Wilkens all-time record. He is the second-winningest coach in NBA history (1,322), trailing only Wilkens (1,332).

The Warriors, who haven't won since beating New Jersey on January 22, will also host the Los Angeles Clippers and are 9-14 in Oakland this season.

The 2009-10 season series between Dallas and Golden State is tied at a game apiece. These two teams have split the previous 18 encounters.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

  • Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
    OR
  • Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.

  • There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.

    The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:

    Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots

    Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.

    For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically

    Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:

  • Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
    OR
  • Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score

    Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?

    Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21

    The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.

    Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.

    Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).

    Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.

    And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.