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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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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