Blake dishes out 14 first-quarter assists, Blazers destroy Clippers

Basketball Betting Lines

02/22/2009 - Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LaMarcus Aldridge tallied a season-high 28 points and 10 rebounds, and Steve Blake tied an NBA record with 14 first- quarter assists to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to their eighth consecutive home win with a 116-87 shellacking of the Los Angeles Clippers.

San Antonio's John Lucas also had 14 assists in the second quarter of an April 15, 1984 game against Denver.

Blake ended with 17 assists and six points for the Blazers, who closed out a three-game homestand in perfect fashion to improve to 23-5 as the host. Brandon Roy chipped in 20 points, nine assists and eight boards in the win, while Travis Outlaw scored 15 points.

Nicolas Batum scored 10 points for Portland, which set a season-high with 38 assists on its 48 field goals. The club is now 1 1/2 games behind Denver for the lead in the Northwest standings as the Nuggets fell to Milwaukee, 120-117, earlier Sunday.

Eric Gordon scored 21 points to pace the Clippers, who have lost three straight contests. DeAndre Jordan and Baron Davis scored 15 points apiece, with Jordan adding 12 boards.

Aldridge poured in 18 points and Blake doled out 14 assists in the record- setting opening stanza to give the Blazers a 38-16 lead.

Blake's 14 helpers also set franchise records for most assists in a quarter and most in a half.

Rudy Fernandez' three-pointer and Roy's two free throws opened a 56-24 Blazers lead with 4:41 showing on the clock.

LA slightly trimmed its deficit to 65-39 heading into the break.

The Clippers never got within 20 points in the third quarter before falling behind 92-68 heading into the final frame. Outlaw scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to give the home team a 98-68 lead, and the Blazers cruised from there.

Game Notes

LA shot a measly 36.7 percent from the field while Portland hit 52.2 percent of its shots...The Blazers outrebounded the Clips, 56-38...Portland's 38 first-quarter points were a season-high for one period...The Clippers were without forward Zach Randolph. Randolph was suspended for two games after punching Phoenix' Louis Amundson on Tuesday...The Clippers are 7-22 as the guest in 2008-09...The 2008-09 season series has the Blazers up 2-1, but the Clippers have won eight of the last 14 meetings. LA, however, have lost 15 of 19 and 27 of their last 32 trips to the Rose City.

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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.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.