08 Feb 07Suns win without Nash
The Phoenix Suns posted a 109-102 win over the Portland Trail Blazers in overtime Tuesday night with two time MVP Steve Nash sidelined with a shoulder injury.
Amare Stoudemire led the Suns scoring 36 points including the first five in overtime as Phoenix covered the 3.5 point spread with IASbet.com
The 201 point total score also saw the game point total covered, thanks to Travis Outlaw missing a layup with 4 seconds left on the game clock to send this one into overtime.
The Suns cruised early opening up a double-digit buffer before the much improved Portland Trailblazers rallied to trail by only 4 points heading into the second half.
Portland dropped their third straight game but continue to be competitive, unlike last season.
Meanwhile, the Houston Rockets covered the 3.5 point spread in their clash against the Memphis Grizzlies who never looked like stretching the Magic who started 1.606 favourite on the moneyline with IASbet.com
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27 Jan 07Spurs cover the Spread
The San Antonio did the right thing by Basketball betting enthusiast with their 112-98 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
IASbet.com had the Spurs a 13 point favourite for this clash in Texas and after a poor third quarter by the Spurs who were outscored 34-19, most tickets were confetti, mine included.
The NBA Championship contenders led by Tim Duncan with 26 points, 13 rebounds and a career-best nine blocked shots came good in the fourth to outscore the Grizzlies 31-15 and more importantly sneaking over that 13 point margin.
San Antonio led by 15 points at halftime, but a 17-4 run to start the second half by the Grizzlies saw them get to within two points before they had reached the halfway mark of the third.
The Grizzlies hit the lead in the fourth quarter. Not once, but twice before the Spurs went on a 19-3 run of their own to blow the margin out to 102-88 with five minutes remaining.
The Spurs head to LA to take on the Lakers while the Grizzlies head home to face the Portland TrailBlazers.
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26 Jan 07T-Mac Fires Rockets
Tracy McGrady scored 37 points to help the Houston Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs 90-85 on Wednesday night.
After helping the Rockets secure a second straight win in San Antonio McGrady said, "It's important to us because we haven't won here in a long time. This is big. It's big to come to San Antonio and get a win."
The Rockets had previously lost 17 straight games on the road to the Spurs before winning their Decenber 22 encounter 97-78.
McGrady has led the Rockets to a 10-5 record in the absence of all-star center Yao Ming who broke a bone under his right knee in December.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich praised McGrady’s unselfish play saying, " If you double team him he's going to find someone else."
"You never want to be in a game that's close with Tracy McGrady. He can rise up anywhere on the court over just about anybody who's guarding him," he said.
Houston blew the game open in the fourth quarter after the scores were tied six times in the third.
The Spurs will look to bounce back to the winners list on Friday when they host the Memphis Grizzlies while Houston will head home to entertain the Portland Trailblazers.
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26 Jan 07Shaq back but Heat still lose
Shaquille O’Neal returned to the floor for the defending NBA champion Miami Heat but it wasn’t enough to help them get over the line as they fell 96-94 in overtime to the Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers rallied 13 point three quarter time deficit to force overtime, they had trailed by as many as 20 points during the third.
O’Neal finished with five points and five rebounds in 14 minutes, playing his first game after missing the previous 35 while recovering from knee surgery.
Dwyane Wade scored a game high 32 points to go with his eight assists while former Golden State
Warrior Troy Murphy finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Pacers.
The Pacers nailed a trio of three pointers to gain all the momentum early in the fourth quarter taking a shock 75-74 lead.
The teams headed into overtime after Wade missed a long range jumper after Gary Payton had stolen the ball with 4.1 seconds left on the clock.
Miami is at New York on Friday while the Pacers host the Toronto Raptors.
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26 Dec 0676ers post back to back wins
THE Philadelphia 76ers posted back to back wins for the first time since the departure of Allen Iverson to the Denver Nuggets.
Andre Iguodala continued his emergence with another 20 points while new arrival Andre Miller had nine points and 11 assists in his Philadelphia debut as the 76ers beat the inconsistent New York Knicks 98-77 on Saturday night.
The 76ers got an even spread across the board with Chris Webber adding 18 points, Kyle Korver scored 16 and Samuel Dalembert had 11 for the Sixers who won their seventh game of the season.
Jamal Crawford with 21 points led the scoring for New York who saw a rare three game winning streak come to an end with Knicks coach Isiah Thomas blaming the defeat on his team being flat.
Thomas said, "We didn't have enough gas in the tank. I was concerned we might be flat and we were flat," he added.
The Knicks head home to host Detroit at Madison Square Gardens while the 76ers will now hit the road for a season high seven game road trip starting at Golden State on Tuesday.
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26 Dec 06Okur three gives Jazz win over Memphis
MEHMET Okur nailed a go ahead three pointer to guide the Utah Jazz to yet another come from behind win when they downed the Memphis Grizzlies 100-97 on Saturday night.
The former Piston scored 20 points including a pair of free throws down the stretch as Utah scored the final eight points of the game to erase a 5 point lead held by the Grizzlies with 2:27 left on the clock.
Last seasons coach of the year, Mike Fratello said. "We had a couple of breakdowns defensively, and on offense, we had a couple of turnovers down the stretch. They did a good job of making us pay." After the Grizzlies posted their ninth loss in their last 10 games.
Carlos Boozer continues to shine for the Jazz leading the way with 24 points and 11 rebounds while Mike Miller led all scorers for Memphis connecting on 10-of-20 including 6-of-13 from beyond the arc to finish with 28 points.
Utah coach Jerry Sloan said, "In the second half, we did a much better job of forcing the offensive rebounds and passed the ball better." After calling his team selfish in the opening half.
Of Okur’s three pointer Sloan said, "He's hit a ton of those, and I don't have a problem with him shooting them,"
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26 Dec 06Ming To Miss Six Weeks
HOUSTON Rockets center Yao Ming will miss at least six weeks after fracturing the bone under his right knee in Saturday's 98-93 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Yao Ming was attempting to block a shot from Tim Thomas in the opening quarter when it appeared Yao's knee got caught under Thomas' body.
Ming was immediately taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston where tests confirmed he had fractured his right tibial plateau.
The 7-foot-6 center had been averaging 27 points and nine rebounds for the Rockets who are already short handed with six-time All-Star Tracy McGrady on the sidelines with a back complaint.
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22 Dec 06Dallas Win Without Nowitzki
THE Dallas Mavericks had to overcome the loss of All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki and an 11 point halftime deficit to improve to 19-7 103-95 win over Seattle on Wednesday.
Nowitzki got injured with 2:05 left in the opening quarter when Seattle's Chris Wilcox hit the floor. He made contact with Nowitzki who rolled his ankle.
Nowitzki was immediately taken for X-rays which returned positive news for Dallas coach Avery Johnson who said Nowitzki was day-to-day.
The Seattle SuperSonics failed to find a way of shutting down Eric Dampier who matched a season high 22 points while grabbing a season-best 16 rebounds.
While Johnson was pleased with the fightback by his men, keeping the Supersonics to 39 second half points is a little easier than doing so against one of the powerhouse teams of the competition.
Johnson has the Mavericks trying to play a defensive brand of basketball since the departure of former coach Don Nelson.
The SuperSoncis lost their sixth straight game, played without their All-Star Ray Allen.
They lost leading scorer Rashard Lewis who was coming off a season-high 36 points against the Grizzlies, in the opening minute after he injured a tendon in the back of his right hand after trying to block a shot and getting his fingers caught in the net.
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22 Dec 06Jazz Fightback
THE Utah Jazz rallied from a 21 point deficit to down the Atlanta Hawks 112-106 with Turkish center Mehmet Okur the standout performer scoring 30 points to go with his 10 rebounds on Wednesday night.
Utah outscored the low flying Hawks 40-13 in the final period.
Okur was 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, continuing his hot shooting from 3 point range.
Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said, "He's such a wonderful shooter. We're always shocked when he misses a shot."
His 3 pointer with 1:47 left on the clock gave the Jazz a 106-103 and saw off a gallant Falcons outfit who were led by Joe Johnson 27 points and Josh Smith 23 points.
The Jazz improved to 3-4 on their road trip as they bounced back from an overtime defeat at New York on Monday night.
Atlanta continues to slide losing for the fifth time in six outings.
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