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Celtics to face test from improved ThunderBasketball Betting Lines03/31/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oklahoma City Thunder are approaching their first playoff appearance since 2004-05 as the Seattle SuperSonics and will resume a three-game road trip Wednesday against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. The Thunder are sixth in the Western Conference, two games behind fifth-seeded Denver and a half-game ahead of No. 7 Portland, and opened the current trek with last night's 111-93 triumph at Philadelphia behind 26 points and 10 rebounds from the NBA's second-leading scorer, Kevin Durant. The standout forward, who is averaging 29.6 points per game on the season, entered the contest posting an league-high 30.8 ppg on 48.6 percent shooting since Christmas. Jeff Green scored 16 points, Nenad Krstic added 14 and Russell Westbrook finished with 10 points and 14 assists for Oklahoma City, which has won three of its last four games. "Everyone chipped in," Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. "When we needed to hit a shot, we stepped up and hit a shot. When we needed to get a stop, we got that also." After tonight's game, the Thunder will close out this trip in Dallas on Saturday. They will close out the regular season with eight straight games against Western Conference foes. The Atlantic Division-champion Celtics will continue a six-game homestand Wednesday and hope to bounce back from Sunday's 94-73 loss versus the San Antonio Spurs that spoiled a two-game winning streak. The Celtics got 18 points from Paul Pierce, while Kevin Garnett contributed 12 points and 10 boards in defeat. Shelden Williams provided 11 points off the bench for Boston, which is tied with Atlanta for third in the Eastern Conference standings. "I just think we were just flat, we weren't aggressive," Garnett said. "I thought we put a lot on Paul to score the ball. I don't think the ball was moving as it was the first half and we've got to get better at that." Boston is 23-13 in Beantown this season and will also play host to the Rockets and Cavaliers on this residency. In injury news for the Celtics, Pierce is questionable for tonight with a bruised shoulder and center Kendrick Perkins (knee) is listed as probable versus Oklahoma City. Perkins has missed back-to-back games and is averaging 10.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per contest. The Celtics handed the Thunder a 105-87 setback on December 4 thanks to 23 points and eight rebounds from Garnett. They have won six straight and 14 of the last 19 matchups in the series, including the last three meetings held at TD Garden.
<< Red-hot Suns try to keep rolling at expense of Nets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of teams coming off important wins get together this evening at the Meadowlands, as the Phoenix Suns try to extend the NBA's longest active win streak to nine games when they take on the New Jersey Nets. Phoenix won
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<< Cavs and Bucks clash at the "Q"
<< Lakers finish road trip vs. Hawks
<< Raptors try and right the ship vs. Clippers
Blazers, Knicks set for battle in Rose City >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A Portland Trail Blazers team aiming to improve their position in the Western Conference playoff standings welcomes the New York Knicks to the Rose Garden tonight. The streaking Blazers won their third straight g
Hornets play host to lowly Wizards >>
Mavericks visit Grizzlies in Southwest showdown >>
Heat begin key road trip with stop in Detroit >>
Sliding Wolves try to snap skid vs. Kings >>
FOOTBALL TRASH TALKNFL Football Trash TalkTrash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing). Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion. Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site). Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com. Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season. The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation. What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill. Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies. But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply. In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton. |
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