Hill, Spurs top Hornets

Basketball Betting Lines

03/01/2010 - New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - George Hill poured in 23 points and grabbed five rebounds, as the San Antonio Spurs handled the Hornets, 106-92, at New Orleans Arena.

Tim Duncan added 22 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs, who have won two in a row and three of four overall. Tony Parker donated 18 points and six assists. Manu Ginobili tallied 13 points and eight assists off the bench for San Antonio, which shot 50.6 percent from the field.

Marcus Thornton finished with 30 points and seven boards for the Hornets, who have dropped two straight and four of five overall. Emeka Okafor ended with 18 points and seven rebounds, while David West had 13 and nine in defeat.

Down 22-19 late in the first quarter, the Spurs bridged the first and second periods with an 18-4 run. DeJuan Blair tallied six points during the burst, including a layup to give San Antonio a 37-26 lead with 10:25 left until half.

New Orleans scored 10 straight points moments later to deadlock the tilt at 39-all on an Okafor layup with over 5 1/2 minutes remaining. However, the Spurs went on a 12-0 flurry to go back in front and were ahead 58-47 at the break.

Following an Okafor layup to start the third, San Antonio went on a 12-1 run to build a 20-point lead. Parker had eight points during the stretch that Duncan ended with a jumper to make it 70-50 with over 7 1/2 minutes to go.

The Hornets fought right back with an 18-4 burst to get back into the contest. Thornton capped the run with a trey and layup to cut the gap to 74-68 with over 1 1/2 minutes remaining. The score was 80-73 heading to the fourth.

San Antontio opened the fourth on a 9-2 spurt to extend its margin to 14. Parker's jumper made it 89-75 just three minutes into the frame.

The Hornets never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Game Notes

The Spurs have already beaten New Orleans three times this season and have taken four straight overall vs. the Hornets...New Orleans shot 45.1 percent from the floor...San Antonio waived forward Michael Finley earlier Monday.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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