Seasons Over Charlotte Victory

Basketball Betting Lines

"The Big Three" accounted for 67 of the team's 95 points as Dwyane Wade scored 25 points and Chris Bosh added 12 points and eight boards for the Heat, who have won two straight.

 

The Cavs, meanwhile, are coming off one of their most impressive wins of the season, a 91-88 victory over the reigning NBA champion Mavericks on Saturday. Irving scored 20 points, including a tough reverse layup in traffic with 15.8 seconds remaining in that one.

 

"In that fourth quarter he was pretty fresh and we put the ball in his hands and let him make decisions," Cavs head coach Byron Scott said of Irving. "He's got the unique ability to get to the basket. And when he gets there he has a great way of finishing."

 

Anderson Varejao had a huge game with 17 points and 17 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who snapped a two-game skid. Antawn Jamison netted 19 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

 

(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce is on the verge of passing a legend on the team's all-time scoring list and will lead the surging squad into tonight's showdown versus the lowly Charlotte Bobcats at TD Garden. Pierce is 10 points shy of passing Larry Bird (21,791) for second on the team's all-time scoring list. John Havlicek has a comfortable spot at the top with 26,395 points. Pierce trimmed the margin with a 21-point effort in Sunday's 98-80 triumph over the Memphis Grizzlies. Kevin Garnett had a season high-tying 24 points and nine rebounds in the recent win.

 

The Celtics had been 0-4 against Western Conference foes. Rajon Rondo had five points and tied a season-high with 14 assists in his second game back since missing eight in a row due to injury.

 

The losing trend continued with Saturday's 95-89 loss at Phoenix, as rookie Kemba Walker had a team-best 22 points and Reggie Williams added 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists in his first start of the season. In his three games played, Williams has averages of 9.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 23.0 minutes.

 

"We just missed some shots that we should have made and they came down and executed their offense and they made shots," said Walker, who is averaging 14.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.6 steals in his previous 13 contests. "That's just the way it went in the second half. They really just outplayed us in the fourth quarter."

 

The Bobcats are only 1-13 as the visitor this season and have lost their last 11 road games. That's the longest road losing streak since Nov. 7, 2007 - Jan. 4, 2008. Charlotte lost 12 straight games away from home Feb. 4-March 19, 2005 and dropped a franchise-high 14 consecutive road games from Jan. 2-Feb. 27, 2006.

 

Charlotte and Boston split four meetings a year ago but the Celtics have prevailed in 10 of the past 14 matchups between the teams. The Bobcats ended a five-game losing streak at TD Garden with an 83-81 victory last March 25. They have still lost 10 of the 13 encounters in Beantown.

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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.


Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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