Anthony, Smith miss shootaround after auto accident

Basketball Betting Lines

02/02/2007 -

DENVER (AP) -Denver Nuggets players Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith were involved in a fender bender on their way to the team shootaround Friday morning, coach George Karl said.

Neither player was injured and both will play against Portland on Friday night, Karl said.

They missed the shootaround so they could take care of paperwork following the mishap.

Team spokesman Eric Sebastian said Smith was driving one of Anthony's cars but didn't have any other details.

The accident came a day after Anthony, the league's leading scorer, was snubbed from the Western Conference All-Star squad.

With Houston's Yao Ming and Utah's Carlos Boozer both injured, Anthony could still be selected by commissioner David Stern. The commissioner suspended Anthony for 15 games earlier this season for his role in a brawl with the New York Knicks, and the Western Conference coaches who pick the reserves snubbed him.

``I think there's a lot of hope,'' Karl said. ``I think Melo was one of the top five players in basketball before the suspension. Visually, it's hard to remember when you're seeing other guys play for 37 or 38 days. I think it's basically psychological - what you're familiar with is what you probably vote on. I hope the commissioner can professionally evaluate and select who I would select, and that would be Melo.''

Allen Iverson, who was named to his eighth straight All-Star game, also missed the shootaround. He was traveling back to Denver from a family funeral, and will be a game-time decision because of a sprained ankle that kept him out of the Nuggets' loss at Portland on Wednesday night.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Wwimustlotto Basketball Betting News

<< Dolphins, Giants look forward to `breakthrough' game in London
MIAMI (AP) -Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga said he was willing to give up a home game and help promote the NFL overseas by playing the New York Giants in London this year.The game will be Oct. 28 at the new, 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium. It will

<< Tomlinson, Brees share Walter Payton Man of the Year award
MIAMI (AP) -Connie Payton simply couldn't choose between San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson and New Orleans' Drew Brees when voting for the award that's given in her husband's memory.``Obviously, I wasn't the only one,'' Payton said.Tomlinson and Brees

<< Hill out at least 2 weeks with knee injury
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -Magic forward Grant Hill is expected to miss at least two weeks because of a sprained knee.Hill sprained his medial collateral ligament Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks. He is Orlando's second-leading scorer, averaging 15 po

<< Urlacher's influence remains strong in New Mexico oil town
LOVINGTON, N.M. (AP) - Most of America knows Brian Urlacher as the fearsome star linebacker for the Chicago Bears.People in his modest hometown, however, see him as a happy-go-lucky guy who has remained loyal to old friends and shared his good fortu

<< Hillout at least 2 weeks with knee injury
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -Magic forward Grant Hill is expected to miss at least two weeks because of a sprained knee.Hill sprained his medial collateral ligament Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks. He is Orlando's second-leading scorer, averaging 15 po

Baker, Winfield arrive in Ghana >>
ACCRA, Ghana (AP) -A delegation headed by Hall of Famer Dave Winfield and former Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker arrived in Ghana on Friday for a goodwill trip aimed at promoting the sport in a region where little is known

Marquette set to retire Wade's jersey >>
MIAMI (AP) - It's a big weekend for Dwyane Wade.His beloved Chicago Bears are in the Super Bowl on Sunday, facing the Indianapolis Colts. His son, Zaire, turns 5 that same day and the doting dad plans to surprise him with a trip to the game.And befo

Klecko outshines dad in two ways >>
MIAMI (AP) -Dan Klecko finally has something on his father.If he never makes another play in the NFL, at least he can tease Joe about this: If the Indianapolis Colts beat Chicago on Sunday, he'll have three more Super Bowl rings that his dad, who re

Bears playing "no respect" card. >>
MIAMI (AP) -Forget the perception that the Chicago Bears are mere patsies for Peyton Manning.They have a decent chance at winning Sunday's Super Bowl against the Colts. Really.Maybe these guys aren't quite the Monsters of the Midway - under today's

Grossman could make critics disappear Sunday >>
MIAMI (AP) - There's a way Rex Grossman can finally silence his critics, the ones who've hounded him this season and pounded him with questions all week leading up to the Super Bowl.Win the game.Do something only one other Chicago Bears quarterback

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.