Online Betting Contest

Today in Holland Eredivisie is only a game. A interesting point of view regarding this is the number of goals. Groningen away in all games have an Over 2.5

Both team have a average(GF+GA) of more than 2 goals/game.

Sparta in all games have an average of 3.75 and at home a 3 goals average.

Groningen have a average for all games of 3.06, and away an incredible 4.5. Before last game away (with Heracles 1-2) there were 3 consecutive games with 6 goals in each game all lost at NEC 5-1, RODA 5-1 and Heerenveen 4-2.

The Suns and Lakers have not met since Los Angeles won 119-98 in US Airways Center, Phoenix, Arizona opener on November 2, 2007. The Lakers led by as many as 33 points.

“It is going to be tough, they have a lot of length and size which is going to be tough for us if we don’t play well,” said Nash, who had a season-low three assists in last month’s loss. “But if we’re active and hustle defensively and move the ball it is going to give us the chance to win on the road. It’s a big game they’re playing well and fired up to play at home on Christmas day.”

Lakers will play their ninth straight Christmas game and Suns did not play in Christmas day since 1996.

Finally the bookies has set the spread to -7.5 when HOU will visit DEN.
Few bookies have opened the spread for this match few hours ago.
One of them was orakulas.lt with DEN -5.5@1.85 (now is set to -7.5@1.85)

PinnacleSports is known that have biggest odds but right now I have found that another bookie is better for taking moneyline for Denver.
So please take a look (pay attention at the hour when post is up)
pinnaclesports.com DEN@1.31
wettpunkt.com DEN@1.45

If Pinnacle set -7.5 spread, I thing it is 95% that Tracy McGrady will not play tonight and I will thing at another good pick - Yao Ming (points+rebounds Over 34 @ 1.83 bodoglife.com)

HOU Rockets @ DEN Nuggets
Pick: DEN -5.5 @ 1.85 (orakulas.lt)
Stake: 10 units from 10

The revenge taste of victory is in Denver’s players mind for tonight match. In November 24, 2007 at Toyota Center – Houston (TX) Denver had lost 81-109. In that match Tracy Mc.Grady and Yao Ming scored 57 points. For tonight match Tracy Mc.Grady is very improbably to play because he bruised his left knee.
I would recommend to wait until the players will be on court at the match time and sees if the Mc Grady will play or not.

Phoenix Suns is the first NBA team this season who beat SA Spurs in AT&T Center.  After few years of frustrations, Suns it seems to be a complete team. Although Mavericks is 11-2 at home, they do not reach yet the complete game which we have seen at them in last year.
Both teams have the complete list players, without injuries report and have one day rest from the last game.
PHO is a better team compared with last year (Grant Hill joined to PHO this season). Dirk Novittzki played a little above 40 minutes last game and Josh Howard almost 38 and a half minutes. All 5 starters from PHO played last game between 32-35 minutes. Comparing these times, Dirk could not play at 110% from his NBA abilities.
I thing this game has nothing in common with past statistics and will win the team who will me more focused.

Normally NY Knicks is a team that could beat any non-top-5 NBA team at Madison Square Arena. Until now they do not prove this issue. Although it is almost the most expensive NBA team the rank results are not as high as the salaries are. Past game shows that things are changing. Knicks beat Nets without Stephon Marbury. Marbury returned to practice Sunday and said it had been difficult to return to the arena and he expects to play Monday.

J. O’Neal from Indiana is questionable for tonight match (he left Saturday’s game against Heat with a sore neck late in the 4-th Q). Eddy Curry had 23 points and nine rebounds Saturday night as the Knicks snapped a five-game losing streak and played a season-high 38 minutes.

The Pacers is favorite with -3.5 spread handicap.

Indiana Pacers will host the Toronto Raptors tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse Arena.In this game will miss TJ Ford (TOR Raptors) because he is taking a week off after hitting his head on the floor in Tuesday’s game. J.Foster (IND Pacers) is doubtful for this game because of a back injury.

The Indiana concept of basketball is to run and score all the time: “We run to score all the time,” J. O’Neal (IND) said. “If we’re going to run to score, we have to run back and play defense. We cannot score and give up buckets on the other end; that’s been the thing. We feel very confident that with the way we play, as the season progresses, we’re going to get a lot better.”

Even the Indiana coach Jim O’Brien believes that they can rally from double-digit deficits: “I’ve seen a lot of games lost or almost lost by going into a style that’s not your style because you’re trying to protect the lead,” O’Brien said. “We are a running team until the three-minute mark.”

Indiana has won 8 of its last 10 home games against Toronto.

Bookmakers have set the Pacers as a favorite with -1.5 spread handicap and the total to 205. 

 The concept of beating the Spurs (17-4) brightened somewhat after the Golden State Warriors dropped them Tuesday, 96-84. Tim Duncan missed a third consecutive game because of a sprained right ankle and is listed as questionable for tonight’s game. Tony Parker has been playing with a sprained left ankle and is also questionable. Manu Ginobili is not injured, which is good news for the Spurs. He had scored 37 points in two consecutive games before falling to 13 points on four-for-14 shooting against Golden State.

“It’s a good test for us to see how much we’ve improved since the last time we played them,” Kobe Bryant said. “We just weren’t prepared in terms of our experience as a team and being able to go deeper into our offense to be able to combat what they do against us defensively … but now we’re much better prepared and more equipped. It’s going to be a nice challenge.”

Tonight match will be the last of consecutive home games for LA LAkers, which will play five of its next six on the road. San Antonio has won eight of its last 10 road games against the Lakers.

It is very probale that coach Phil Jackson and the entire LA Lakers team will celebrate a victory tonight.

An excellent NBA game we could see last night when The Hawks won at Orlando Magic (98-87). The Hawks controlled the tempo from opening tip to the final buzzer, while notching their fourth win over the Magic (16-6) in their last five games against their Southeast Division rivals. Atlanta native and early season MVP candidate Dwight Howard struggled through 42 minutes of non-stop harassing from the Hawks (14 points, 18 rebounds and two blocks). Chris Bosh was outstanding in his return to the Raptors’ lineup. He returned Sunday and had 21 points and 10 rebounds as Toronto beat Houston (93-80). After getting a boost from Bosh, the Raptors hope to have Bargnani on the court for the first time in five games as they open a tough stretch on the road Tuesday night against the upstart Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena. The favorite team is considered the Raptors with 2.5 points spread.

We could say that Mavericks it’s the wave. It is not Dirk Nowitzki #1 player, but Josh Howard is.

He’s coming off a career-best 47 points, and he’s scored 19 or more in six consecutive games, averaging 26.3 points. Eddy Curry is shooting more than 57 % for the Knicks, and he and Zach Randolph are supposed to be anchoring a strong frontcourt. But they have had trouble making up for inconsistent guards.

Mavericks defense is not as good as it was in last season.It has surrendered 119.5 points on average in the last two games, but if ever there was a chance to get well, it’s against the Knicks. Jamal Crawford and Stephon Marbury may be the most erratic backcourt in the league. 

Injuries Mavericks: Eddie Jones (right leg) is out.

Knicks: Jerome James (knee) is out

Obs.: Stephon Marbury could not play at his 100% basketball because he may be affected about his father death.

Tip: Line is set now to +8.0 for NY Knicks, but I expect to be higher. So if it rises to +8.5 or +9.0 take it.