Bryant and Lakers hang on against Warriors

Basketball Betting Lines

03/16/2010 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kobe Bryant scored 29 points and the Los Angeles Lakers held on for a 124-121 win over Golden State, their ninth straight win over the Warriors.

Pau Gasol added 26 points, while Andrew Bynum contributed 19 points and 14 rebounds, as the Lakers posted their third straight victory. Lamar Odom totaled 17 points and 12 boards in the win.

Stephen Curry ended with 29 points and nine rebounds for the Warriors, who lost for the seventh time in eight contests. Chris Hunter had a career- best 22 points, but Monta Ellis struggled in a big way for Golden State, going 5-of-23 from the field in a 13-point effort.

Ellis' driving layup moved the Warriors within 123-121 with 10.6 seconds left, and the door was left open for the home team when Bryant went 1-of-2 at the foul line with 8.6 on the clock.

Curry then missed a three-point shot, but Ellis got the long rebound and race to the top of the arc. The attempt from Ellis bounced three times off the rim before finally falling away as the horn sounded.

The Lakers shot a sizzling 13-of-19 from the field in the third quarter to turn a six-point halftime deficit into a seven-point lead moving to the fourth. Derek Fisher scored all of his nine points in the period.

Bryant's layup capped a string of 12 straight points for LA, which rallied for a 79-74 lead at the midway point of the quarter.

Ahead 94-87 going to the fourth, the Lakers widened their lead to double digits at 100-90 on Odom's layup two minutes into the stanza. Golden State scored 10 of the next 11 points, but the see-saw continued with the Lakers gaining a 121-110 lead on a pair of Gasol free throws with two minutes to go.

One last rally from the Warriors fell short.

The Lakers held a 39-32 lead after 12 minutes, but the Warriors scored nine in a row late in the second to take a 63-57 lead. It was 65-59 at halftime.

Game Notes

The Warriors forced 24 turnovers, converting that to 29 points. Bryant had nine turnovers and Bynum eight...Ellis also had 11 assists and five steals...Corey Maggette scored 18 for the Warriors, who went 13-of-30 from three-point range.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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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:

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