Points Warns Minutes For Overtime

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Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jamal Crawford had 26 points off the bench, Gerald Wallace scored 20 and the Portland Trail Blazers continued to win against the Sacramento Kings, beating them 101-89 on Monday night. The Trail Blazers led by as many as 22 points and improved to 11-1 in their last 12 games against Sacramento.

 

The Kings fell to 3-6 so far during a stretch where they play 10 of their 12 games on the road.

 

The game was all but decided during three-plus minutes in the second quarter when the Blazers used a 13-0 run to take a 15-point lead.

 

The lead remained at 15 points, 53-38, heading to halftime.

 

The Blazers also beat Sacramento on December 27, getting a 101-79 win in that one. On Monday, they never let their lead dip below double digits in the second half.

 

Game Notes

 

Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony squared off against his former team for the first time since being traded to the Big Apple last February and struggled from a shooting standpoint (10-for-30), but scored a team-best 25 points and 10 rebounds and sent the game into overtime on a jumper at the end of regulation. Landry Fields and Iman Shumpert both netted 18 points and Amare Stoudemire had 12 and 11 boards for the Knicks, who went 0-4 on the homestand and sit third in the Atlantic Division behind the 76ers and Celtics.

 

D'Antoni's team will also make stops in Cleveland, Miami and Houston, and is 3-4 as the visitor this season. Anthony is probable for Tuesday due to a sprained left wrist -- his non-shooting hand.

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.