Nuggets aim to stay hot vs. Raptors

Basketball Betting Lines

01/27/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The streaking Denver Nuggets aim for a sixth straight win tonight when they host a Toronto team that expects to be without leading scorer Andrea Bargnani.

The Nuggets are fresh off a brilliant 5-0 road trip that was capped with a 122-93 blowout win in Sacramento on Wednesday. Danilo Gallinari led seven players in double figures with 23 points in that one as Denver recorded its first perfect five-game trek since joining the NBA prior to the 1976-77 season.

Gallinari, who signed a contract extension earlier Wednesday, went 8-of-12 from the field and added five assists. Nene notched 16 points and Andre Miller had 15 and 10 assists.

"We made a point not to settle for jumpers because that is a team that's struggling defensively with their identity," said Nuggets forward Al Harrington. "There were so many open things, so we just tried to pick one of them and really attack and that was the rim."

Denver's ultra-quick point guard Ty Lawson left in the second quarter against the Kings after spraining his left ankle and is expected to miss tonight's game. He hopes to return Sunday against the LA Clippers.

Denver, which is 6-2 at the Pepsi Center this season, will finish a quick two- game homestand against the Clips.

The Raptors, meanwhile, are coming off back-to-back impressive road wins.

Toronto improved to 2-1 on a five-game trek on Wednesday when Bargnani and Linas Kleiza, an ex-Nugget, scored 25 points apiece as the Raptors snapped a 12-game losing streak against the Utah Jazz with a 111-106 win in double- overtime.

It was Toronto's first win in the series since December 22, 2004.

Bargnani, who played his second game after missing the previous six with a strained calf, scored all of his points in regulation. He played 3:55 in the first overtime before sitting the rest of the game after aggravating the injury, however.

"This time it's bad," Bargnani, who is averaging 23.5 ppg this season, said. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to be out for a while."

Jose Calderon knocked down a three-pointer with 13.3 seconds remaining in regulation for Toronto, tying the game, while Paul Millsap buried a three with 3.0 seconds left in the first overtime to knot the contest for Utah.

The back-breaker in the second overtime was Calderon's three-pointer from 10 feet behind the arc to beat the shot clock, giving Toronto a six-point lead with 86 seconds left.

It was the second time in two days that the Raptors snapped a long losing streak to another team. They beat Phoenix, 99-96, in Bargnani's return on Tuesday for their first win over the Suns since February 10, 2004.

DeMar DeRozan scored 17 for Toronto, Leandro Barbosa added 13 and Calderon had 12.

"Everybody that got on the court tonight contributed and fought to win a double-overtime game," said Raptors coach Dwane Casey.

Toronto, which has lost eight straight and 13 of 14 vs. Denver, hasn't won three consecutive on the road since Dec. 11-18, 2007. The Raptors have dropped seven in a row and nine of 10 contests in the Rockies.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

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