Jazz visit Thunder in key Western Conference matchup

Basketball Betting Lines

03/14/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of the Western Conference's top teams jockey for playoff position in Oklahoma City Sunday as Kevin Durant and the Thunder welcome the Utah Jazz to town.

The Jazz are currently the fourth seed in the jumbled West, 1 1/2 games ahead of No. 5 Oklahoma City.

Utah fell to 2-1 on a four-game road trip Friday in Milwaukee when John Salmons scored 24 points and hit a pair of important free throws with less than 20 seconds to go, as the Bucks continued an impressive homestand with a 95-87 win over the Jazz.

Carlos Boozer paced the Jazz with 26 points and 14 boards before being ejected in the final seconds, and Utah had a four-game win streak snapped. Mehmet Okur contributed 20 points and 11 rebounds, and C.J. Miles had 17 points in a reserve role.

Deron Williams scored 11 points, dished out nine assists and grabbed six boards for Utah.

"They made us hurry on a couple things, they forced us out on the floor," Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan said of the Bucks. "They did a great job, they played extremely well and they made the shots they had to win the ball game."

Utah played most of the second half against the Bucks without forward Andrei Kirilenko, who strained his left calf, while Williams aggravated a left shoulder injury.

Kirilenko is questionable for tonight's game but Williams is expected to play for Utah, which hasn't lost back-to-back games since a three-game losing streak from Dec. 31-Jan. 4.

The Thunder, meanwhile, were a bit lackadaisical in their last affair but came out on top of a 104-102 decision over the hapless New Jersey Nets on Friday. Kevin Durant poured in 32 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in that one.

Durant's 30-point game was his 36th this season, breaking Spencer Haywood's franchise mark set from the 1972-73 season.

Jeff Green had a season-high 27 points to go with six rebounds for the Thunder, who have won four in a row overall. Russell Westbrook tallied 11 points and 10 assists. Nenad Krstic and Nick Collison each registered 10 points for Oklahoma City, which has also won five straight on its home floor.

"He's unstoppable," Durant said of Green. "He's so strong going to the basket, he can shoot the three. He has one of the best pump-fakes in the game, so that allows him to get to the rim as well. He's so athletic too, so he did a great job of getting us going early today."

The Thunder have won both games against the Jazz so far this season, including an 87-86 thriller on Dec. 31 at the Ford Center.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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