Lakers outlast Celtics in OT

Basketball Betting Lines

02/10/2012 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The battle between the Lakers and Celtics was fittingly decided in overtime, and it was Andrew Bynum's late tip-in that proved to be the difference in Los Angeles' 88-87 victory.

The Lakers have won six of seven against Boston at TD Garden, thanks in part to Kobe Bryant's 27 points and double-doubles by Bynum and Pau Gasol on Thursday.

Bynum totaled 16 points and 17 rebounds, while Gasol added 25 and 14, including a tip-in with 9.8 seconds left in regulation that tied things at 82.

The Celtics, who came in riding a five-game winning streak, failed to get a quality attempt off at the end of the fourth quarter, and missed four shots in the final 70 seconds of overtime.

Ray Allen paced Boston with 22 points and All-Star reserve Paul Pierce added 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Kevin Garnett posted 12 points and 12 boards, but shot just 2-of-13 from the floor after halftime.

Rajon Rondo finished with 14 points and seven helpers, and his floater gave Boston a 79-77 lead with three minutes left in regulation.

Bynum countered with a three-point play, only to have Allen come off a baseline screen and nail one from three-point range with 1:08 on the clock.

After trading misses, Bryant was off on a fadeaway from the left side, but Gasol was there for the tying tip-in with 9.8 seconds showing.

Out of a timeout, Pierce dribbled down the final seconds and was hounded outside the arc before passing to Mickael Pietrus with two seconds left. Pietrus' off-balanced 31-footer was nowhere close to the rim as the buzzer sounded.

Pierce drained a three-pointer for an 87-86 lead with 1:51 left in the extra session, and that wound up being Boston's last basket.

Bynum tipped in another Bryant miss at the other end, and Garnett missed jumpers on the next two Celtics possessions. Bryant was off the mark again with 7.9 seconds to play to give the Celtics a chance, but Pierce's forced 18- footer drew iron. Allen was in position for a putback, but he short-armed his attempt.

The Celtics were ahead 26-22 after the first quarter and 47-45 at halftime. Bryant scored 12 in the third quarter to give LA a 67-64 advantage heading to the fourth.

Game Notes

The Celtics (17) and Lakers (16) have accounted for 33 of the 65 NBA championships...These two teams will meet again in Staples Center on March 11...The Lakers visit the Knicks on Friday before ending their six-game road trip on Sunday against the Raptors...The Lakers shot just 1-of-15 from three- point range, but won the battle on the glass, 55-45 and outscored the Celtics at the free throw line, 15-5.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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