Blazers try to halt home skid vs. Wizards

Basketball Betting Lines

02/14/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers will try to halt a rare losing streak at the Rose Garden when they play host to a Washington Wizards team coming in off its second road victory.

The Blazers had been a gaudy 11-1 in Rip City before losing two tough ones to Oklahoma City last Monday and Houston two days later. They rebounded in New Orleans on Friday before tripping in a 97-94 double overtime loss at Dallas on Saturday.

All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge netted a game-high 33 points in Big D for the Blazers, including a game-tying bucket with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Aldridge also pulled down 12 rebounds, while Jamal Crawford contributed 19 points for Portland, which fell to 4-10 on the road.

"I thought our guys fought tonight to get themselves back into the game, and to give ourselves a chance to win the game," Portland head coach Nate McMillan said. "We have opportunities, and we've had them all season long where you've got to make plays, you've got to make shots, you've got to get stops, and, again, tonight we don't make shots when we have the opportunity."

The Blazers haven't lost three straight in the Pacific Northwest since March 29-April 6, 2008 but could be without starting center Marcus Camby tonight. The big man sprained his right ankle in Dallas and is listed as questionable.

The Wizards, meanwhile, won just their second road game of the season on Sunday in Auburn Hills when John Wall matched a career-high with 15 assists and scored all nine of his points during a game-changing run in the second half as Washington thumped the Pistons, 98-77.

JaVale McGee recorded a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds and Nick Young added 22 points for the Wizards, who are 2-10 away from home this season. The Wizards had lost six of their last seven games coming in.

"These games when we're close to these teams and have the same kind of record, these are like championship games," Wall said of the 8-21 Pistons. The Wizards are 6-22. "You have to take advantage of them."

Washington, which is a dismal 1-16 against teams with winning records, has dropped six straight in Rip City since a 114-106 triumph back on March 28, 2005.

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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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