Blazers cruise past Hawks

Basketball Betting Lines

02/19/2012 - Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nicolas Batum led all scorers with 22 points as Portland cruised to a 97-77 victory over the Atlanta Hawks at Rose Garden on Saturday.

LeMarcus Aldridge recorded a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds in his first game back after missing two straight with a sprained left ankle. Raymond Felton added 14 points and eight assists as Portland has now won two of its last three.

Joe Johnson scored 19 points and Willie Green netted 17 off the bench for the Hawks, who have lost three of their last four.

Portland trailed 13-11 early on but the Trail Blazers used a 12-2 run in the first quarter to jump out to a 33-25 lead after 12 minutes.

Portland would never trail again in the contest.

Atlanta would get as close as five on a Willie Green trey to start the second but Portland scored seven of the next eight points to take a 40-29 lead.

The Trail Blazers would lead by double-digits for the remainder of the game as they took a 52-37 advantage into the locker room.

A Felton three pressed the lead to 19 as Portland led by double-digits throughout the third to take a 72-56 lead into the final stanza.

In the fourth, Aldridge knocked down a turnaround jumper to give Portland a 22-point lead, its largest, with just over four minutes remaining.

The Blazers dominated the glass, outrebounding the Hawks 50-27, including 15 offensive boards, which led to 18 second chance points for the Trail Blazers.

"I thought we got in a good rhythm, we made our shots, and we stopped those guys," said Portland head coach Nate McMillan. "We mixed in some zone tonight and we continued to make shots. We continued to defend. In the fourth quarter we did the same thing. Whenever they made a big shot, we responded."

Game Notes

Portland will start a tough back-to-back when it visits the Lakers on Monday and host the Spurs on Tuesday...Atlanta will travel to Chicago on Monday before wrapping up a five-game road trip in New York on Wednesday...Portland shot 40.9 percent from long range while Atlanta shot just 25.9 percent.

Wrollingstone Basketball Betting News

<< Notre Dame outlasts Villanova in OT
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pat Connaughton made two of his seven three-pointers in overtime, as the 23rd-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat the Villanova Wildcats on Saturday. Connaug

<< Michigan beats Ohio State in Big Ten tilt
Ann Arbor, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trey Burke and No. 17 Michigan got their revenge. Burke scored 17 points and the Wolverines avenged an earlier loss to their heated rival with a 56-51 victory over No. 6 Ohio State on Saturday. Ti

<< Vrbata lifts Coyotes over Stars in OT
Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Radim Vrbata scored 1:15 into overtime to lift the Phoenix Coyotes over the Dallas Stars, 2-1. Mikkel Boedker lit the lamp in regulation for the Coyotes, who extended their season-high point streak to eight

<< Busch edges Stewart in wild Bud Shootout at Daytona
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In what turned out to be a frantic night of racing at Daytona International Speedway, Kyle Busch bounced back from two near wrecks and then beat reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart to the fin

<< Baylor edges Texas Tech to remain undefeated
Waco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brittney Griner filled the stat sheet with 18 points, 14 rebounds, six blocks and five assists as No. 1 Baylor escaped with a 56-51 decision over Texas Tech to remain the nation's lone undefeated team. Desti

Kiprusoff, Flames blank Kings >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Cammalleri scored the lone goal of the game and Miikka Kiprusoff made 28 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, as the Calgary Flames beat the Los Angeles Kings, 1-0. The Flames extended their po

Raonic returns to SAP Open final >>
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Milos Raonic made it back to the final of the $531,000 SAP Open with a straight-set win over American Ryan Harrison on Saturday. The third-seeded Canadian will face Denis Istomin of

Wright claims narrow win in New Zealand >>
Christchurch, New Zealand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Australian Lindsey Wright carded her second straight four-under 68 Sunday to earn a one-stroke win at the ISPS Handa New Zealand Women's Open. Wright, who was one of six players tied for the le

Paddison wins Victorian PGA by one >>
Victoria, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gareth Paddison struggled to a three- over 74 in the final round Sunday, but held on for a one-shot win at the Victorian PGA Championship. Paddison, who played the final nine holes in six-ov

Tseng holds off Miyazato to repeat in Thailand >>
Chonburi, Thailand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yani Tseng birdied the final two holes Sunday to fend off Ai Miyazato and win the Honda LPGA Thailand. In a battle of the last two winners of this event, Tseng fired a six-under 66 to repeat as champion.

MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect

LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.

Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.

Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.