Cavs visit Paul, Hornets

Basketball Betting Lines

03/24/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers will hit the road for back-to-back games starting with tonight's showdown in the Big Easy against the New Orleans Hornets.

Cleveland will also visit San Antonio and owns the best road record in the NBA at 25-11. It has won 16 of the last 21 road games.

The Cavaliers are riding a seven-game winning streak and won for 13th time in 14 tries with Sunday's 104-79 pounding of the Central Division-rival Detroit Pistons at Quicken Loans Arena. Leon Powe poured in a season-best 16 points, while LeBron James and Delonte West both finished with 15 for Cleveland, which is 30-7 in the new year and earned its 26th consecutive victory over teams with losing records.

"One thing that I talked to the guys about is playing with a competitive edge. I felt that we had a competitive edge tonight and we have to keep building on it because that's what is going to help this team win," Cavs head coach Mike Brown said after the Cavs pulled off a sweep of Detroit for only the second time in franchise history (1979-80).

Mo Williams ended with 12 points and eight assists in the victory. He is averaging 15.3 points and 5.3 assists in his last six games.

New Orleans will resume a five-game homestand and kicked off the residency with a 115-99 triumph versus Dallas the last time out on Monday. Chris Paul tallied all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter and had three assists in his anticipated return for the Hornets, who ended a three-game slide and won for just the third time in 13 contests.

Paul, who missed 25 games after having surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, played nearly 21 minutes. Marcus Thornton led all scorers with 28 points, David West had 25 and a career-best 10 assists and Morris Peterson netted 20 points in the win.

"I thought this was the best ball game of the year...our stops were better, the cutting action was better and we seemed to have a better sense of purpose," said Hornets coach Jeff Bower.

The Hornets are 22-12 at home and will also play host to the Blazers, Lakers and Wizards.

Cleveland took the first meeting with New Orleans, 105-95, in February at the 'Q', and is 10-4 in the previous 14 meetings between the teams. The Cavs, however, are winless in their last three trips to the Big Easy.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.