Thunder top Celtics for 11th straight home win

Basketball Betting Lines

02/22/2012 - Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Russell Westbrook scored 31 points, dished out six assists and pulled down five rebounds, as the Oklahoma City Thunder held off the Boston Celtics, 119-104.

Kevin Durant added 28 points, nine boards, six assists and four steals for the Thunder, who have recorded 11 straight wins at home for the first time since a 12-game streak from February 22-April 2, 1998, when the team was known as the Seattle SuperSonics.

James Harden and Daequan Cook tallied 17 points apiece for Oklahoma City, which has won four in a row overall.

The Thunder became the first team to score 100 points against Boston in 30 games.

Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce ended with 23 points apiece for the Celtics, who head into the All-Star break on a five-game losing streak. Garnett also had 13 rebounds in his return to the lineup after missing two games due to personal reasons.

Ray Allen donated 21 points and seven assists for Boston, which also went 30 straight games without allowing a 30-point scorer.

Trailing by nine, 23-14, with 4:54 left in the first quarter, the Thunder ended the frame with an impressive 21-2 run. Cook tallied six points during the burst, which Harden capped with a three-pointer for a 35-25 lead.

Oklahoma City then scored the first seven points of the second period. Cook's three-pointer, Royal Ivey's layup and Harden's layup made it 42-25.

The Thunder, whose margin reached 23 in the stanza, had four players in double figures at the break en route to a 72-49 lead.

The Celtics started to make things interesting in the third quarter by outscoring the home team, 31-22, to make it a 94-80 contest heading to the fourth.

Trailing 106-91 with 6:11 to play, Boston went on an 11-2 run to make it a six-point contest. Allen tallied seven points during the burst, which Pierce capped with a free throw to make it 108-102 with 3:31 left.

But the Thunder ended the game on an 11-2 spurt to claim victory.

Game Notes

The Thunder took both games from Boston this season and beat the Celtics in Oklahoma City for the first time (1-3)...Boston turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 24 Oklahoma City points...The Thunder were without forward Nick Collison (bruised left quadriceps)...Boston guard Rajon Rondo served the second of a two-game suspension. He was added to the 2012 East All-Star team for this weekend's game in Orlando...The Celtics were without Jermaine O'Neal (sprained wrist), Chris Wilcox (strained abductor) and Brandon Bass (sore knee)...Durant has been added to the 3-point contest for this weekend's All- Star Game festivities in Orlando. Durant will take the spot of Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson, who will miss All-Star weekend because of tendinitis in his left knee.

Wwwnine Basketball Betting News

<< Magic beat Nets for 9th straight time
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dwight Howard had 20 points and 17 rebounds, but the Orlando Magic may have made their biggest run of the game with him on the bench Wednesday night in a 108-91 win over the New Jersey Nets. Orlando beat New J

<< Balanced Knicks ease past shorthanded Hawks
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeremy Lin netted 17 points and dished out nine assists as the New York Knicks eased past the shorthanded Atlanta Hawks, 99-82, at Madison Square Garden. Steve Novak also scored 17 points for New York, wh

<< Michalek, Sens beat Ovechkin-less Caps
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Milan Michalek tallied twice to lead Ottawa past Washington, 5-2, at Scotiabank Place. Erik Karlsson picked up a goal and two assists for the Senators, who have won four in a row and five of their last six.

<< Kings top Wizards
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcus Thornton and Tyreke Evans scored 22 points apiece on Wednesday, leading the Kings to a 115-107 win over the Wizards. Sacramento had lost a season-high six straight games, but got 18 points

<< DeRozan leads Raptors over Pistons
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - DeMar DeRozan netted 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor to go with seven rebounds as the Toronto Raptors topped the Detroit Pistons, 103-93, at Air Canada Centre. Leandro Barbosa finishe

No. 10 Marquette sends Rutgers to another loss >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jae Crowder scored 27 points, Darius Johnson- Odom had 21 and No. 10 Marquette handed Rutgers its sixth straight loss on Wednesday night, 82-65. Vander Blue added 10 points for the Golden Eagles (23-5, 12-3 B

Wichita State downs Illinois State, claims MVC crown >>
Normal, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Ragland paced four Wichita State players in double figures with 14 points as the Shockers took down Illinois State by a 68-55 count on Wednesday to lock up the Missouri Valley Conference title. Garrett

Ferrer breezes into quarters at Copa Claro >>
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed and world No. 5 David Ferrer easily dispatched Argentina native Facundo Bagnis on Wednesday at the Copa Claro tennis event. Ferrer, who was the runner-up at this event two years

Rockets hand 76ers a 5th straight loss >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Houston's Luis Scola had 19 points and 10 rebounds in Wednesday's 93-87 win over the 76ers. Kevin Martin scored 14 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and Kyle Lowry finished with 13 for the Rockets,

Noah's triple-double leads Bulls past Bucks >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joakim Noah recorded his first career triple- double with 13 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, as the Chicago Bulls cruised past the Milwaukee Bucks, 110-91. Carlos Boozer added 20 points and seven

FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines .
To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sports betting