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11/07/2008 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Pierce finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to lead the streaking Boston Celtics to a 101-89 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Kevin Garnett added 16 points and nine boards for the Celtics, who have won three in a row and are 3-0 at home this season. Kendrick Perkins added seven blocks, along with eight boards and six points for Boston.
Three Celtics players came off the bench to reach double figures -- Tony Allen had 13 points, Eddie House 11 and Leon Powe 10.
Richard Jefferson led Milwaukee with 20 points, but the Bucks had their two- game win streak snapped. Charlie Villanueva added 13 points and 12 rebounds for Milwaukee, which played without guard Michael Redd, who suffered a sprained ankle in Sunday's game against the Knicks.
He also did not play in Wednesday's win over Washington.
The Celtics dominated the second quarter. Luke Ridnour hit a short jumper to put the Bucks up 42-38 with 5:50 remaining, but then Boston went on a 15-1 run.
Pierce had seven points, and Garnett's bucket with under a minute left handed Boston a 53-43 lead. Rajon Rondo's pair from the free throw line gave the Celtics a 55-47 advantage at the break.
The teams traded baskets throughout the third quarter as the Celtics held a slim lead, and Glen Davis' jumper with under 10 seconds left in the stanza gave Boston a 75-70 lead going into the fourth.
The Celtics started to pull away in the final quarter. A Powe free throw, followed by a dunk from Allen and Rondo layup boosted Boston's lead to 82-72 less than two minutes in.
About two minutes later, Powe had a layup and Allen followed with two free throws to make it 92-77. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had a dunk with 7:54 left in the game, but the Bucks didn't score for the next four-plus minutes as the Celtics cruised to the finish.
Milwaukee opened up a double-digit lead after Jefferson hit a jumper, then followed it up quickly with a three-pointer to make it 16-6 a little under five minutes into the game.
Boston rattled off eight straight points later in the first, but the Bucks maintained a lead and two free throws from Ramon Sessions gave them a 30-23 edge going into the second.
Game Notes
Boston has won five straight against Milwaukee, having swept the Bucks in a four-game series last season...Ridnour finished with 12 points, while Sessions had 11...The Bucks had 23 turnovers to Boston's 18...The Celtics shot 48.1 percent (38-for-79) from the field, while Milwaukee made only 39.7 percent (31-of-78) of its shots.
<< 'Canes use late rally to edge Sens
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Corvo netted the game-winning goal with
2:40 remaining in the third period and added an assist, as the Carolina
Hurricanes rallied past the Ottawa Senators, 2-1, at the RBC Center.
Dennis Seiden
<< Everybody beats the Wiz: Randolph, Knicks keep Washington winless
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zach Randolph scored 22 points and hauled in
13 rebounds to lead the New York Knicks in a 114-108 victory over the
Washington Wizards.
Jamal Crawford poured in 23 points and doled out three assists
<< Spurs' Parker leaves with ankle injury
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker left
Friday's game with the Miami Heat in the first quarter with a left ankle
injury.
Parker drove to the hoop for a bucket and rolled his ankle upon taking fli
<< Hawks' Smith leaves with ankle injury
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith left
Friday's game against the Toronto Raptors in the first quarter with a left
ankle injury.
Smith went up for a block on a jumper from Toronto's Jermaine O'Neal
Hawks down Raptors, but lose Smith >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Bibby led a balanced attack with 19 points
and the Atlanta Hawks stayed unbeaten on the young season with a 110-92
victory over the Toronto Raptors at Philips Arena.
Bibby scored all of his point
Williams lifts Thrashers past Sabres in OT >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Williams' power-play goal 48 seconds into
overtime lifted the Atlanta Thrashers to a 5-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres at
the HSBC Arena.
Derek Roy was called for tripping at the 36-second mark of ov
LeBron propels Cavs past Pacers >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James filled up the stat sheet with 27
points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and four blocked shots, leading the
Cleveland Cavaliers to a 111-107 win over the Indiana Pacers.
James' great all-ar
Felton, Bobcats hold off Hornets >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Raymond Felton had 20 points, including two
huge free throws late in the game, to help the Bobcats edge the Hornets,
92-89, in a thriller from Charlotte Bobcats Arena.
Jason Richardson also had 20 p
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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