Cavs try to keep rolling in bout with slumping Bulls

Basketball Betting Lines

03/19/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Cavaliers have already locked up their second straight Central Division title and are trying to nail down the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference in back-to-back seasons. Tonight they'll get started with a road bout against the division-foe Chicago Bulls at the United Center.

The Cavaliers are 5 1/2 games ahead of Orlando for the top seed in the conference and have ripped off five straight victories, including Wednesday's 99-94 triumph versus the Central-rival Indiana Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena. NBA leading scorer LeBron James nearly had his second straight triple-double, finishing with 32 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, while Antawn Jamison added 17 points and nine rebounds in Cleveland's 24th win in 28 tries.

"Any time you can put a banner up for this franchise, it's great," said James, who surpassed Magic Johnson to become only the third player in league history to have 49 or more games with 30-plus points, eight-plus rebounds and eight- plus assists since the 1976-77 merger. "It's a great tribute to the fans, this organization, the players and the coaching staff and everyone around it."

James is only three points shy of 15,000 for his career and at 25 years, 79 days old, should become the youngest player in the NBA to reach that mark. (Kobe Bryant - 27 years, 136 days).

J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao each had 13 points in the victory.

Owners of the best record in the NBA, the Cavs are 15-5 in their last 20 road tilts and own a 24-11 mark away from "The Q" this season.

Chicago has seen better days and will try to stop a nine-game losing streak tonight against arguably the best team in the NBA. Its current slide has made the playoffs seem almost unreachable, but surprisingly the Bulls are just 2 1/2 games behind Toronto for the eighth and final postseason spot in the East.

In the finale of a winless four-game road trip on Wednesday -- a 113-106 loss at Dallas -- Acie Law scored a career-best 22 points for the Bulls, who haven't won since February 26 at home against Portland. This is the longest losing streak for Chicago since opening the 2004-05 campaign with an 0-9 record.

"We've got to tighten up some things defensively," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. "That's how we won early in the season. We can't control the paint and we're not controlling penetration as well as we'd like. We just have to keep trying to find ways to improve in a lot of areas, and it makes it tough when half your team is new."

The Bulls played without their top three scorers on Wednesday, as Derrick Rose (sprained left wrist), Luol Deng (strained calf) and Joakim Noah (left foot) all missed the game. Rose is expected to miss Friday's game -- his fourth straight -- while Deng and Noah are out indefinitely.

Rose leads the team in scoring (20.4 ppg) and assists (5.7), and is averaging 23.6 points, 5.6 assists and 2.5 rebounds over his last eight contests.

The Bulls have lost four straight at home and are 19-13 in the Windy City this season.

The 2009-10 season series between the Cavaliers and Bulls is tied at a game apiece. These two teams have split the past eight matchups held at the United Center.

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

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