Smith, Hawks bring down hammer on Bulls

Basketball Betting Lines

03/01/2010 - Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Smith paced a balanced scoring attack with 17 points and a season-high 18 rebounds, as the Atlanta Hawks dominated the glass to defeat the shorthanded Chicago Bulls, 116-92, at United Center.

Smith had six offensive boards, as the Hawks outrebounded the Bulls by a 63-37 margin overall. Atlanta had 22 total on the offensive side, compared to just eight for Chicago.

Jamal Crawford came off the bench to provide 21 points, while Marvin Williams had 18 with nine rebounds in the win. Al Horford added 15 points and 10 boards, while Joe Johnson had 14 points and nine rebounds in the lopsided victory, Atlanta's fourth in five games.

Derrick Rose paced Chicago with 24 points despite leaving briefly in the first half with a minor knee injury, but the Bulls couldn't avoid having a four-game home win streak snapped due to the absence of Luol Deng (knee) and Joakim Noah (foot). Brad Miller provided 15 points and seven boards, while Taj Gibson had 11 and 13 in a losing effort.

The Bulls trailed by seven to start the fourth and got as close as five several times in the opening moments, but an ensuing 9-0 Hawks spurt essentially put the game away.

Williams had seven of the nine points, including an acrobatic three-point play that had the visitors ahead, 94-79, with 5:37 to play.

Atlanta cruised to the finish line from there.

The Hawks jumped out to a 34-23 lead after one quarter, partly due to Rose's absence, and Atlanta increased its advantage to 59-43 at halftime.

The Bulls, though, made a game of it in the third, outscoring the Hawks by a 25-16 margin. Gibson scored the first five points of the period to get Chicago within 11, and a Miller jumper had the hosts within single-digits, 67-58, with five minutes left.

Atlanta pushed its advantage back up to 15 before a 10-2 Bulls burst ended the quarter. Flip Murray had four points during the stretch, including a layup in the final moments to make it 75-68 heading to the fourth.

Game Notes

Atlanta won the season series, 3-1, and has captured seven of eight against Chicago...The Bulls began a four-game homestand Monday and will also play Memphis, Dallas and Utah during the stretch...Chicago fell to 19-10 at home, while Atlanta improved to 15-14 on the road...Murray had 12 points for the Bulls, who got 10 points from Hakim Warrick...Rose banged knees with Atlanta's Mike Bibby in the first quarter and limped to the locker room before returning late in the second quarter...The Bulls never led in the game.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.