Points Gets Head Into Orleans

Basketball Betting Lines

David Lee posted 26 points and Brandon Rush added 14 off the bench to help the Warriors get back in the win column.

 

"Monta did a great job of getting in the seams understanding he didn't have it offensively, meaning scoring, and the great players figure out how to impact a game even though they are not able to do what they do best," Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said.

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indiana Pacers try to follow up their biggest win of the season tonight when they head to Boston to face the Celtics at TD Garden. Indiana picked up a big win over the Eastern Conference-leading Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, as Danny Granger had 22 points, Roy Hibbert scored 20 to help the Pacers to a 95-90 win, their first victory in the Windy City in almost four years.

 

The Pacers snapped a six-game road losing streak against the Bulls, winning in Chicago for the first time since March 22, 2008.

 

The win over the Bulls was even more impressive considering just one night earlier Indiana suffered an embarrassing 19-point loss at home to the Orlando Magic.

 

Pierce had 24 and Kevin Garnett added 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Celtics, who held the Magic to a franchise-low 56 points in a win on Monday, trailed by as many as 27 in the first half but made the comeback despite playing without starters Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen.

 

"It should give us tremendous confidence, especially with guys hurt - key guys hurt," said Pierce. "We didn't have Jermaine to guard Dwight (Howard), we're without our All-Star point guard, our All-Star 2-guard. Everything was in the making for us to lay down and get ready for tomorrow, but there's something about this locker room where the light has switched on."

 

Indiana has beaten the Celtics twice already this season and has won three straight in the series after losing five in a row to Boston. The Celtics have also lost four of six as the visitor in this matchup.

 

The Magic set new franchise lows for fewest points scored in a game, in a half and lowest field goal percentage in a game in an 87-56 loss at Boston on Monday. Orlando shot a franchise-low 24.6 percent from the floor, going just 16-of-65, and committed a season-high 25 turnovers. It then rebounded the following evening with a 102-83 win at Indiana.

 

Boston was on the docket again Thursday in central Florida and the Magic suffered a 91-83 setback. They did a little better shooting with a 38-percent clip but were done in by a 27-8 margin in the fourth stanza. Dwight Howard had 16 points and 16 rebounds, while Ryan Anderson and Jameer Nelson scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, for Orlando, which has alternated wins and losses over its last six games.

 

New Orleans is mired in a season-high nine-game losing streak and has dropped 15 of 16 games since opening the compressed 2011-12 season with two straight wins. It is trying to avoid losing 10 in a row for the first time since Dec. 17, 2004-Jan. 7, 2005.

 

"The first half they scored 60 points and the second half they scored 41. We just had the tale of two halves -- the turnovers just hurt us in the second half," said Hornets coach Monty Williams. "They take advantage of it when you turn it over and they run right down your chest."

 

Gustavo Ayon had 16 points and Carl Landry added 15 points for New Orleans, which shot 46.7 percent for the game.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.