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Anthony beats the buzzer as Denver edges Toronto

Basketball Betting Lines

03/26/2010 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carmelo Anthony's fall-away jumper at the buzzer, his 24th and 25th points of the game, sent Denver over Toronto, 97-96, at Air Canada Centre.

Andrea Bargnani's running, one-handed layup with 44.4 seconds to play plus a free throw put Toronto up 95-92. Anthony then missed two free throws on the next trip down the floor, but Denver kept possession off the final miss.

The ball got to Chauncey Billups and he drilled a three from the left corner with 33.9 seconds left to tie the game.

Chris Bosh then coughed up the ball trying to isolate against Nene but was fouled on the strip. He missed the first and hit the second for a one-point game with 16.2 ticks left on the clock.

Anthony got the ball off the inbound at midcourt, but missed his first chance from 20 feet. The ball was tipped around repeatedly under the basket, but Billups came up with the ball and dished to Anthony, whose fade-away shot fell through as time expired.

Nene finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Nuggets, who snapped a three-game slide and took a one-game lead in the Northwest Division over Utah after the Jazz lost to Indiana.

Billups ended with 18 points while J.R. Smith added 16 off the bench.

Bosh led the way with 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors, who have lost two in a row and three of five. Bargnani also posted a double-double with 14 points and a game-best 15 boards while Sonny Weems also had 14 points.

Toronto sits in eighth in the East, two games ahead of idle Chicago.

Thanks to eight points from Anthony, Denver led 26-19 after one quarter.

Chris Andersen's slam upped the Nuggets' lead to nine early in the second, but Toronto surged back to take a 40-36 lead after two free throws and a three from Jarrett Jack -- the latter coming with 5:08 left in the half.

Denver struck back to take a 56-52 lead at the break, thanks to 11 points in the quarter by Smith, including a trey in the final seconds.

The Raptors moved ahead thanks to an 18-6 run in the third. Antoine Wright hit a pair of buckets on successive possessions to forge a 62-all deadlock to get things started. Weems later finished the burst with two from the line then a pair of jumpers to push the advantage to 76-68 with 2:54 left in the period.

Jack's driving layup provided an 81-72 Toronto edge heading to the fourth.

Marco Belinelli's deuce provided an 87-75 edge for the home team with 8:16 to play, but Denver kept chipping away until Anthony's bucket with 1:39 remaining pulled the Nuggets into a 92-92 tie.

Game Notes

Denver has taken 11 of the last 12 meetings and have won five of six over the Raptors in Toronto...Bargnani recorded his 10th double-double of the season, and 46th of his career...Wright finished with eight points and six rebounds...The Nuggets continue their five-game road swing in Orlando on Sunday and the Raptors head to Miami also Sunday.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

  • Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
    OR
  • Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.

  • There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.

    The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:

    Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots

    Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.

    For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically

    Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:

  • Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
    OR
  • Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score

    Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?

    Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21

    The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.

    Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.

    Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).

    Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.

    And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.