Marion leads Mavs to 12th straight victory
Basketball Betting Lines
03/08/2010 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shawn Marion posted 29 points to go with 14 rebounds, pacing the Mavericks to their 12th straight victory in a 125-112 decision over the lowly Timberwolves.
Dirk Nowitzki and Caron Butler added 24 and 23 points, respectively, for Dallas, which is in the midst of its longest winning streak in three seasons.
Jason Kidd ended with 12 points and 10 assists for the victors.
Minnesota's Al Jefferson returned for a two-game suspension for a suspected DWI and scored 36 points on 16-of-21 shooting while pulling down 13 rebounds. Ryan Hollins had 13 points and nine boards before being ejected late in the game for Minnesota, which has dropped six straight overall and ninth straight at the Target Center against the Mavs.
Minnesota actually got out to a fast start, as Jefferson scored 11 points in the first five minutes, hitting a turnaround jumper for a 19-9 lead.
The Mavs countered with a 23-4 flurry over the next five minutes to take control. Marion had 10 points during the stretch, and Dallas led 34-27 at the first-quarter buzzer.
It was a double-digit game for most of the second quarter, and Dallas' 71-61 lead at halftime fell to seven, 77-70, following a Hollins dunk near the nine- minute mark of the third.
Again the visitors had an answer, scoring 12 of the next 13 points, as a Nowitzki bucket yielded an 89-71 lead midway through the frame.
Dallas owned a 97-84 advantage with 12 minutes to play, and the closest the T'Wolves got in the fourth was 10.
Down 112-102 with under four minutes left, Hollins caught Nowitzki with an elbow going after a rebound and was subsequently ejected. Earlier in the game, he got away with a similar forearm to the face of DeShawn Stevenson.
Nowitzki, who earlier in the day was awarded the Player of the Week in the Western Conference for the period ending March 7, hit the ensuing four free throws and the Mavs cruised from there.
Game Notes
The last time the Mavs tasted defeat was on February 16 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They are on their longest win streak since a franchise-best 17- game run from January 27-March 11, 2007...Rodrigue Beaubois ended with 11 points for the Mavs, who made half of their 96 field goal attempts...Jonny Flynn posted 13 points and eight assists for Minnesota, which won the battle on the glass, 54-39.
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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.