Points Joins Season For Portland

Basketball Betting Lines

Billups, 35, has played over 30 minutes per game this season, averaging 15.0 points and 4.0 assists.

 

Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russell Westbrook blocked Nicolas Batum's drive to the hoop in the closing seconds of regulation, then hit the go-ahead basket in overtime, as the Thunder handed the Trail Blazers their second home loss of the season, 111-107. Prior to Westbrook's block, LaMarcus Aldridge was whistled for a controversial goaltending violation on Kevin Durant's layup attempt, tying the game with six seconds remaining.

 

Aldridge led the Blazers with 39 points, but was called for goaltending despite appearing to get a piece of Durant's scoop before it hit the backboard.

 

Batum drove to the basket with time winding down, only to be met in the lane by Westbrook, who was able to hang in the air long enough to get a piece of the ball and send the game to overtime.

 

Durant slammed the door with a dunk.

 

Reggie Jackson's three-pointer near the first-quarter buzzer pulled Oklahoma City within 31-29, and the Thunder scored the final eight points of the half to build a 60-52 advantage.

 

Oklahoma City owned an 85-79 edge heading to the fourth, and it was a two- possession game the entire final stanza.

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indiana Pacers had their season-high four-game winning streak cut short the last time out and tonight they'll try and start a new run with the Utah Jazz in town. Indiana dropped an 85-81 decision versus the Orlando Magic at home on Saturday, as Danny Granger scored 19 points and Tyler Hansbrough had 17 in a losing effort. The Pacers shot a season-worst 34.1 percent.

 

"It was a tough loss for us after a real strong week," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "We really never got into a rhythm offensively."

 

The Pacers, who have yet to lose back-to-back games this season, are 6-2 at home and will hit the road for two games against the Hawks and Grizzlies following Tuesday's game. They will try to get to the 90-point mark tonight and are 15-0 when doing so this season.

Myracetracks Basketball Betting Blog

<< Bynum Boosts Lakers At Season

<< Allen Leads Bell Against Adams

<< Redshirt At Mitchell Giants

<< Games Beats Reimer With Monday

<< Ducks Joins Games For Bertuzzi

Games Beats Boston With Heat >>

Rebounds Sparks Way Down Sacramento >>

New Leads Brady Against Giants >>

Personnel Department Helps Steelers On Teammates >>

Period Down Detroit Concussion >>

FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.