Clippers continue road trip in Cleveland minus Billups

Basketball Betting Lines

02/08/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers eye a third straight win this evening, but their thoughts may be with their fallen veteran, as they continue a long road trip in Cleveland.

Los Angeles will be without Chauncey Billups for the rest of the season after the guard tore his left Achilles tendon in the Clippers' 107-102 overtime win in Orlando on Monday.

The injury occurred with 5:48 left in the fourth quarter when Billups attempted a cross-over move, but fell to the floor without contact from another player and needed help off.

Billups, who had 18 points before the injury, had an MRI at the Cleveland Clinic on Tuesday which confirmed the injury.

A five-time All-Star, Billups was averaging 14.9 points, 4.0 assists and 2.5 rebounds in 30.4 minutes a game for the Clippers. The 35-year-old is in the midst of his 15th NBA season, but vowed to return next season.

"I will be back," Billups told Yahoo! Sports. "I'm not retiring ... I will play again."

In Monday's win Chris Paul filled the stat sheet with 29 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter and overtime, to go with eight assists and seven rebounds. Blake Griffin had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers, who have won six of their last seven games.

"We just gutted it out," Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro said of the win. "It was going back-and-forth and we got a couple stops at the end and we were able to convert."

The Clips could get a boost tonight, as Kenyon Martin could see his first game action. Martin played for the Xinjiang Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association during the NBA lockout, and was contractually obligated to wait until the end of the Tigers' season before returning to the NBA. He was cleared to play by FIBA, basketball's international governing body last week.

Los Angeles is 2-0 on a six-game road trip that also includes stops in Philadelphia, Charlotte and Dallas. The Clips are just 5-4 away from home this season, but have won four straight as the visitor. The Clippers' franchise has not won five in a row on the road since Nov. 3-20, 1974, when they were the Buffalo Braves.

Cleveland, meanwhile, enters tonight's tilt on a sour note after falling to old friend LeBron James and the Miami Heat on Tuesday, 107-91. Antawn Jamison ended with 25 points and nine boards for the Cavaliers, who have lost three of four.

Alonzo Gee and Kyrie Irving tallied 17 and 16 points, respectively.

"We had some crucial turnovers. They were just executing," Irving said. "They made their run. Closing out the third quarter and going into the fourth quarter, they had a lot of momentum."

The Cavs, though, have dominated this series of late, winning 11 of the last 13 and 14 of the most recent matchups, including nine straight in Cleveland, where the Clips haven't won since March of 2003.

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Betting Football

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.

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