Magic, Hornets collide in Orlando
Basketball Betting Lines
02/08/2010 -
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Orlando Magic hope to carry the momentum from their big
win at Boston into tonight's home tilt versus the New Orleans Hornets at Amway
Arena.
Orlando posted a 96-89 triumph over the Celtics on Sunday at TD Garden, as
Vince Carter posted 20 points and Dwight Howard finished with 16 points and 13
rebounds for the Southeast Division-leading Magic, who battled back from an
11-point halftime deficit.
"I think we just came out with a lot of intensity. I was upset about how we
played in the first half, it wasn't as well as we wanted to," Howard said. "We
came out in the second half with a lot of energy, defensively moved our feet,
we were talking more and that's what got us the big lead."
Jameer Nelson had 15 points and Rashard Lewis netted 14 in the win, Orlando's
eighth in its last 10 tries. The Magic will put its 19-5 home mark to the test
Monday night and are one game ahead of Atlanta in the division standings.
New Orleans will shoot for its fifth straight win on the road this evening and
ended a three-game losing streak with a 104-99 triumph at Charlotte on
Saturday.
Rookie Darren Collison, filling in for injured All-Star guard Chris Paul,
recorded a team-high 24 points and four assists, while David West scored 21
points and Peja Stojakovic contributed 18 for New Orleans, which avoided a
season-high fourth straight loss.
Collison is averaging 15.5 points, 7.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game in 13
games as a starter. He has been a big lift since Paul underwent left knee
surgery and will be out a minimum of four weeks.
"This [win] was needed bad especially after those losses at home," said
Collison, who is averaging 16.6 points and 9.8 assists in five starts since
Paul went down. "We needed to come back and have a victory today. We've got
two games before the break and have to finish strong."
Emeka Okafor posted 16 points and seven rebounds in the win. On the injury
front for New Orleans, guard Marcus Thornton (back) is questionable for
Monday.
New Orleans and Orlando are meeting for the first time this season, and have
split the past eight matchups.
<< Missed opportunities cost Colts
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peyton Manning was one quarter away from
capturing his second Super Bowl title in four years, but the four-time league
MVP didn't get enough support from his teammates, and in the end a costly
interce
<< Brees brings home MVP to the Big Easy
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In a city that has struggled in both the world of
sports and in day-to-day life, Drew Brees has brought a smile to the faces of
the New Orleans residents.
The party will be rocking for the next few days in the B
<< Line of Scrimmage: Saints' Night, Manning's Nightmare
Miami Gardens, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Raise your umbrella and your Hurricane
glass to the New Orleans Saints, who are Super Bowl XLIV champions because
they were flat-out better than the Colts in an incredible, exhilarating upset
victory that ca
<< Bellucci beats Monaco in Chile final
Santiago, Chile (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci defeated
Argentina's Juan Monaco to win the $450,000 Movistar Open tennis event on
Sunday.
The third-seeded Bellucci downed the second-seeded Monaco 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 in
just over two
<< Who Dat? Super Bowl champs! Saints rally to beat Colts
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Who Dat? Those are the Super Bowl champions -
the New Orleans Saints - for the first time in the history of a franchise and
city that has witnessed its share of tough times.
Drew Brees connected with Jeremy Shock
Mavs kick off road trip in Oakland vs. Warriors >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Southwest Division-leading Dallas Mavericks will hit
the road for three games starting with Monday's contest against the Golden
State Warriors at ORACLE Arena.
Dallas will also visit Denver and Oklahoma City on the roa
Spurs resume road trip against Lakers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs face the toughest test of their
annual Rodeo Road Trip when they face the defending NBA champion Los Angeles
Lakers at Staples Center tonight.
Each year around this time the Spurs hit the road
Colonials face tall task in clash with Panthers >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Panthers take a break from
their Big East Conference schedule this evening to battle the Robert Morris
Colonials of the Northeast Conference at the Petersen Events Center in the
Steel City.
R
Villanova visits West Virginia in Big East showdown >>
Morgantown, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off their first Big East Conference
loss of the season, the Villanova Wildcats will attempt to get back on track
in Morgantown against the West Virginia Mountaineers this evening.
Villanova dropped a 1
Jayhawks and Longhorns duke it out in Austin >>
Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Big 12 heavyweights collide in Austin
this evening, as the top-ranked Kansas Jayhawks take on the ninth-ranked Texas
Longhorns from the Frank Erwin Center.
Bill Self's Jayhawks sit atop the Big 12 stan
NFL Football Trash Talk
Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject
would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms.
Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends,
their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the
sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies
your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming
the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like
your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in
defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your
hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say,
will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt
focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea
is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to
make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.
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