Magic Gets Coach Into Season

Basketball Betting Lines

Monta Ellis scored just four points, 19 below his season average, but dished out 12 assists in the victory.

 

Oklahoma City took two of three games from the Warriors last season but Golden State has won three of the last four in the series played in Oakland.

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indiana Pacers try to follow up their biggest win of the season tonight when they head to Boston to face the Celtics at TD Garden. Indiana picked up a big win over the Eastern Conference-leading Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, as Danny Granger had 22 points, Roy Hibbert scored 20 to help the Pacers to a 95-90 win, their first victory in the Windy City in almost four years.

 

"I thought we could win this game. Chicago's a good team, but so are we," said Hibbert. "Our composure went up after halftime."

 

"Right now we expect to win," Granger said.

 

Boston, meanwhile, rallied to beat the Magic on Thursday, as Paul Pierce led five players in double-figures to help the Celtics erase a 21-point halftime in a 91-83 win.

 

"It should give us tremendous confidence, especially with guys hurt - key guys hurt," said Pierce. "We didn't have Jermaine to guard Dwight (Howard), we're without our All-Star point guard, our All-Star 2-guard. Everything was in the making for us to lay down and get ready for tomorrow, but there's something about this locker room where the light has switched on."

 

"That was a character builder for our team," Celtics head coach Doc Rivers said. "All we talked about was one bucket at a time."

 

The Magic set new franchise lows for fewest points scored in a game, in a half and lowest field goal percentage in a game in an 87-56 loss at Boston on Monday. Orlando shot a franchise-low 24.6 percent from the floor, going just 16-of-65, and committed a season-high 25 turnovers. It then rebounded the following evening with a 102-83 win at Indiana.

 

Boston was on the docket again Thursday in central Florida and the Magic suffered a 91-83 setback. They did a little better shooting with a 38-percent clip but were done in by a 27-8 margin in the fourth stanza. Dwight Howard had 16 points and 16 rebounds, while Ryan Anderson and Jameer Nelson scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, for Orlando, which has alternated wins and losses over its last six games.

 

Howard notched his 14th double-double of the season in defeat. The Magic are 6-3 on the road this season and one game off the lead in the Southeast Division.

 

"The first half they scored 60 points and the second half they scored 41. We just had the tale of two halves -- the turnovers just hurt us in the second half," said Hornets coach Monty Williams. "They take advantage of it when you turn it over and they run right down your chest."

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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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.

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