Revved-up Suns shoot for sweep of Clippers

Basketball Betting Lines

02/18/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Up-tempo basketball is back in Phoenix.

The Suns plastered the Los Angeles Clippers, 140-100, in the front end of a home-and-home set during Alvin Gentry's debut as the team's interim head coach in the Valley of the Sun on Tuesday. Phoenix now hopes to continue things and finish a season sweep of the lowly Clippers tonight at Staples Center.

Gentry had about as good a debut as possible, with six Suns reaching double digits in Phoenix's demolition of LA in the desert.

Phoenix cut ties with the defensive-minded Terry Porter on Monday after the head coach led the perennial Western Conference contenders to a mediocre 28-23 record leading up to the All-Star Game, which was held at US Airways Center on Sunday.

The entire Suns roster looked All-Star worthy Tuesday, with Leandro Barbosa, starting in place of the suspended Jason Richardson, leading the way with 24 points. Amare Stoudemire, who is a fixture in trade rumors heading up to Thursday's deadline, added 23 points in Phoenix's highest scoring output of the season.

"It was a lot of fun," said Stoudemire. "It's beginning to be a lot of fun out there...when we play a high-octane offense. We got ourselves going, everybody got themselves good spacing and shooting rhythm and we played well."

Grant Hill and Shaquille O'Neal, fresh off his co-MVP performance in Sunday's All-Star Game, tallied 20 and 15 points, respectively in the blowout.

Steve Nash, playing with a plethora of injuries, dished out 10 assists to go with eight points in limited minutes, helping snap the Suns' two-game slide.

Rookie star Eric Gordon paced the Clippers with 24 points, while Zach Randolph was ejected in the first quarter when he shoved Phoenix's Louis Amundson in the face after a scuffle under the basket.

"Basically he just threw me down when I was going for a rebound," said Amundson. "I was on the floor and I could feel him on top of me, trying to step on me - I don't know what he was trying to do. I got up and I was pretty upset about the whole situation and I got in his face and he did what he did."

Los Angeles had won three of its previous four coming into the game, but allowed the Suns to shoot a ridiculous 75.6 percent from the floor in the first half.

Richardson, who was arrested and charged with reckless driving, excessive speeding and failure to use a child seat on Sunday after allegedly driving 90 miles per hour in a 35 mph zone with his three-year-old son unrestrained in his vehicle's back seat, should be back in the lineup tonight.

Randolph, on the other hand, could be suspended for his extracurricular activity with Amundson.

Phoenix, which is 14-13 away from US Airways Center, has already beaten the Clips three times this season. Overall, the Suns have taken six of their past seven meetings with LA. The Clippers, meanwhile, are just 6-20 at Staples Center this season.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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