Westbrook, Thunder cruise past Jazz
Basketball Betting Lines
02/11/2012 - Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russell Westbrook scored a game-high 28 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder cruised to a 101-87 victory over the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena on Friday.
Kevin Durant added 19 points and Serge Ibaka contributed a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds as the Thunder won three of their last four games to wrap up a five-game road trip with a 3-2 record.
Utah had all five starters in double figures, including 20 points from Al Jefferson. Raja Bell and Gordon Hayward scored 13 points apiece for the Jazz, who have dropped three straight and five of their last six.
"They [Thunder] played well," said Bell. "They took the game to us. They were aggressive. We got stuck in one mode and were never able to transition into something else to see if it could get going."
Utah would pull ahead by two, 58-56, on a Jefferson jumper in the third quarter, but Oklahoma City would rip off a 16-4 run to give the Thunder a 72-62 lead with just over three minutes left.
The Thunder would finish the quarter leading 74-65.
The Jazz clawed their way back into the game, but another 7-0 spurt by the Thunder pressed the lead up to 85-73 with just over seven minutes to play.
Utah was unable to put a run together in the closing minutes as the Thunder ran away with the double-digit victory.
The Thunder turned the ball over seven times in the first frame as the Jazz took a 30-27 lead into the second quarter.
"We have always been a good bounce-back team after a loss," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. "Tonight was a good indication of how we play. We didn't have a lot of things going for us early. We were turning the ball over, but we fought, we stuck together and we competed."
Utah grabbed a 40-36 lead midway through the second as C.J. Miles finished back-to-back alley-oop dunks around a Westbrook jumper, but Oklahoma City would score the next 10 points to jump out to a 46-40 advantage with 1:30 left in the half.
Westbrook scored 15 points in the first half, including a jumper from the wing that closed out the first half with the Thunder leading 49-44.
Game Notes
The Jazz will begin a back-to-back-to-back road stretch in Memphis on Sunday and finish with a rematch in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, which marks the Thunder's next game...The Thunder are now 12-5 on the road this season...Oklahoma City improved to 4-1 this season in games played after a loss...The Thunder were 4-of-20 from long range, while the Jazz were 3-of-9 from three-point range.
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Benn Ferriero's goal early in the third period proved to be the winner, as the San Jose Sharks kept the Chicago Blackhawks reeling with a 5-3 victory at HP Pavilion. Justin Braun, Dan Boyle, Joe Thornton a
<< Kings place Stoll on IR
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Kings placed center Jarret
Stoll on injured reserve Friday with an abductor muscle injury.
Stoll suffered the injury in the latter stages of the third period of
Thursday's 3-1 loss
<< O'Reilly's late goal leads Colorado past Carolina in OT
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan O'Reilly scored the game-winner with 1.2
seconds left in overtime to give the Colorado Avalanche a 4-3 win over the
Carolina Hurricanes.
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<< Detroit edges Anaheim in SO, extends home win streak
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Todd Bertuzzi supplied the decisive goal in the
third round of the shootout, as the Detroit Red Wings edged the Anaheim Ducks,
2-1, to push their franchise-record home winning streak to 19 games.
Following an e
<< Lin scores 38, Knicks down Lakers
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeremy Lin's coming out party continued on
Friday as he dropped in a career-high 38 points with seven assists and four
rebounds, and the New York Knicks downed the Los Angeles Lakers, 92-85, at
Madison
Hyogo, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ivan Dodig and Ivo Karlovic downed the Japanese tandem of Tatsuma Ito and Yuichi Sugita on Saturday to give Croatia a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup. The two nations entered play tied at 1-1 after spli
Korda takes lead at Women's Australian Open >>
Victoria, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - On a Saturday when many players near
the top of the leaderboard struggled, Jessica Korda shot an even-par 73 to
claim the lead after three rounds of the Women's Australian Open.
The American Ko
Thunder's Brooks to coach West All-Stars >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oklahoma City's Scott Brooks will coach the
Western Conference at the All-Star Game later this month.
The Thunder's 101-87 win over Utah on Friday enabled Oklahoma City to clinch
the conference's best r
Westwood vaults into Dubai lead >>
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lee Westwood fired a five-under
67 on Saturday to vault into the lead at 15-under par after three rounds of
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Hantuchova to face Kirilenko for Pattaya crown >>
Pattaya City, Thailand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Daniela
Hantuchova and Maria Kirilenko were semifinal winners Saturday and will meet
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Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch
Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.
Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.
"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs.
American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout
An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.
Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off. Randy was not impressed though. Paula thought he started off fantastic. "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either.
Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed. Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact. He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition.
Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula. Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.
Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next. Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential. Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell. He sang "Careless Whisper".
22 year old Chris Richardson was up next. He was listed with +1100 odds coming in. He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great.
Nick was boring and pitchy. Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week. Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition.
Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds . These of course were the early odds. He was considered original for picking an "odd song". He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night.
Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good.
Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds. Great voice and a great sense of humor. He's a real standout. Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit. Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig".
Jared Cotter followed. He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition. The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good.
22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next. "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon. Though the judges felt he performed okay. Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.
Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition. He was the last to perform. He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start.
Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys. Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.