Bucks topple Cavs; James rests

Basketball Betting Lines

03/07/2010 - Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Jennings led five Milwaukee players in double figures with 25 points on 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, as the Bucks took down the Cleveland Cavaliers, minus LeBron James, 92-85, at the Bradley Center.

James was given the night off to rest and the Bucks took advantage by winning for the ninth time in 10 games.

Carlos Delfino added 16 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, while Luc Mbah a Moute tallied 10 points and 11 boards for the Bucks, who have won three in a row. Andrew Bogut added 15 points and nine boards.

Antawn Jamison led all scorers with 30 along with 11 rebounds, and Delonte West scored 27 for the Cavaliers, who lost for the first time in seven outings.

"I think defensively we did pretty well," Jamison said. "We definitely missed some (opportunities) on the offensive end. The way (James) is able to create easy opportunities for his teammates, it took us awhile to get things going in the right direction."

Milwaukee started the final frame up 69-61 and traded baskets with the Cavs before extending the margin to 15 at 80-65 on a Jennings three-pointer with 7:38 to go. The Cavaliers would cut the deficit to eight multiple times, with the last coming on a West hook shot with 1:23 remaining, but the Bucks kept trading baskets before allowing a Danny Green triple to end the game.

"When we had to get stops and a rebound, we did," said Bucks coach Scott Skiles. "We had a lot of guys chipping in."

The Bucks got off to an 8-2 run to start the night as Mbah a Moute scored six of the team's first eight points. Milwaukee's first quarter lead extended to 11 at 25-14, when Ersan Ilyasova drained a bucket with less than a minute left.

Cleveland came out strong in the second, mounting a 19-6 run that ended with the Cavaliers maintaining a 33-31 lead with 6:35 left. Jamison and West combined for all of the 19 points in the stretch. The Bucks took back the lead at 39-37 after a Delfino three-pointer, but Mo Williams drained a jumper with five seconds left to give Cleveland a 42-41 halftime lead.

In the third, Milwaukee jumped out to a 13-point advantage at 58-45 on a Jennings jumper, but finished the quarter leading by eight as Jamison scored eight points in the final three plus minutes to slightly trim the deficit to eight.

Game Notes

The Bucks are 15-4 in their last 19 games...Cleveland dropped to 23-7 in 2010...The Cavs converted on just 7-of-22 three-pointers.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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