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Rested Lakers, Suns begin West finals at Staples CenterBasketball Betting Lines05/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Both the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers must have thought they were getting paid by the hour in the second round of the NBA playoffs. The result was a pair of sweeps with the Suns besting their long-time nemesis, the San Antonio Spurs, and the defending NBA champion Lakers handing their annual shellacking to the Utah Jazz. The Pacific Division rivals are now on a collision course for conference supremacy as the West finals get underway at Staples Center tonight. Steve Nash could barely see from his right eye after being stitched up eight days ago, but the veteran point guard scored half of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Suns beat San Antonio, 107-101, to sweep their Western Conference semifinal set. "I think the great thing about us this year is we have the close out instinct," All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire said. "We treated Game 4 as if it was the first game of the series." Phoenix, which has never captured an NBA title, is in the conference finals for the first time since 2006, when the Suns lost to the Dallas Mavericks. Phoenix hasn't made it to the NBA Finals since 1993 when they fell in six games to the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls. Meanwhile, Nash, a former two- time NBA MVP, has played in 112 career postseason games without reaching The Finals, the most in NBA history without the chance to play for a championship. Nash took an inadvertent elbow above his right eye from a driving Tim Duncan midway through the third quarter in Game 4 of that series but should be fine tonight after over a week of rest. The Lakers dispensed of the Jazz a day after the Suns advanced when Pau Gasol poured in 33 points and pulled down 14 rebounds, as Los Angeles continued its march in a quest to repeat as NBA champions with a 111-96 win over Utah. Kobe Bryant added 32 points for the top-seeded Lakers, who will be appearing in their third straight Western Conference final and are attempting to become the first repeat league champions since they won three in a row (2000-02) with teams fueled by Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. Bryant scored at least 30 points in every contest against the Jazz but Gasol was the catalyst in Game 4, going 12-of-18 from the field. "We're improving as every game goes by," Gasol said. "That's something that is really satisfying. I'm looking forward to the next series." The sweep of the Jazz came after the Lakers were pushed to a tough six-game series win over Oklahoma City in the first round. On the injury front for the Lakers, Bryant got plenty of time to rest a balky ankle and arthritic finger but center Andrew Bynum continues to struggle with a small tear in the meniscus of his right knee. The big man claimed the injury was only getting worse after practice on Saturday but will play. "It's something where I'll have to continue getting treatment and pump the swelling out," Bynum said. Bynum's counterpart, Suns center Robin Lopez is expected to make his playoff debut tonight. The 7-footer hasn't played since March 26 due to a bulging disk in his back that pinched a nerve and caused a loss of strength in his right leg. LA won three of four games vs. Phoenix in the regular season and won the Pacific Division by three games over the Suns. "We're going to have to have a sustained effort from our bench to give us a little bit of support," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said of the upcoming matchup. "The Suns are a run-and-gun team. They generate a lot of points and you have to run with them to stay in the game." In the postseason, the clubs have a long and storied history, meeting 11 times dating back to the 1969-70 season. The Lakers have won seven of those series but the Suns have rebounded to take four of the last five playoff sets between the two teams after dropping the first six. Phoenix has also taken the last two postseason matchups between the clubs, first round series in 2005-06 and '06-07. LA and Phoenix have met twice previously in the Western Conference finals with the Lakers winning both, in 1984 and 1989. "(The Suns) play extremely well and are playing with a lot of confidence," Gasol said. "It's going to be a tough series."
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COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTINGNCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking. No. 1 always seems to fit USC. Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent. Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory. Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3. "We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team." Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time. "Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team." The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points. "I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won." Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State. "There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?" USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll. "It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter." While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls. As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule. But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference. Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com. The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road. The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second. The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia. No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday. Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee. Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina. Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson. The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996. South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20. The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24. Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
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