Jazz, Wolves square off at Target Center

Basketball Betting Lines

02/22/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Northwest Division rivals meet at Target Center tonight when the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves both try to get back to the .500 mark on the season and stay out of the cellar in the division.

Oklahoma City is running away with the Northwest but things are jumbled after the Thunder with just two games separating second place Denver from both the Jazz and Wolves.

After a solid start to the season Utah fell below sea level on Monday, falling to Southwest frontrunners San Antonio, 106-102, in Salt Lake City.

Al Jefferson, who spent three seasons with the Wolves, led the Jazz in that one with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Paul Millsap also had a double- double, scoring 16 and pulling down 11 boards. The Jazz have lost four of their last five overall and fell to 3-9 in their last 12.

"Tough loss. I thought our guys really played hard," said Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin, whose team had more rebounds, more points in the paint and more fast break points than the Spurs. "We had a chance to win the ball game."

Minnesota, meanwhile, is coming off a tough overtime loss in Denver when Arron Afflalo drained the go-ahead shot with 33.7 seconds remaining in overtime as the Nuggets outlasted the Timberwolves, 103-101, on Monday.

All-Star Kevin Love had his NBA-best 29th double-double with 22 points and 13 boards, and Michael Beasley added 17 off the bench for the Timberwolves, who saw a three-game winning steak end.

Minnesota had its best chance to tie with 4.9 seconds remaining. Down 102-99, Martell Webster stole an inbounds pass from Julyan Stone at midcourt. Rather than pull up for a three-point attempt, however, Webster drove into the paint for a slam dunk. The T-Wolves were down just one, but with 1.3 ticks to go, it was too little, too late.

"I don't know what was going through [Webster's] head," Love said. "We talked about it [during the timeout] if we were able to get a steal we would pull up for three."

On the injury front for tonight's contest, the Wolves could be without starting center Nikola Pekovic, who sprained his right ankle against Denver.

Fellow big man Darko Milicic is also questionable after sitting out against the Nuggets with an illness. For the Jazz guard Raja Bell could miss a second straight contest with a right adductor injury.

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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