Bobcats hand cold-shooting Lakers second straight loss

Basketball Betting Lines

03/05/2010 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen Jackson scored 21 points, and the hot-shooting Bobcats trounced the Lakers, 98-83, dealing Los Angeles its second straight defeat.

Gerald Wallace added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Bobcats, who had lost five of their previous six games. Charlotte has been one of the few teams to have recent success against the Lakers, winning seven of its last 10 encounters with the defending champions.

Tyrus Thomas contributed 14 points and nine boards for Charlotte, which shot a very efficient 51.4 percent from the field. In addition, the team went 6-of-12 from three-point range in the win.

Conversely, the Lakers, who were led by Kobe Bryant's 26 points, shot just 36.3 percent in their second loss in as many nights. Andrew Bynum added 14 points and 10 boards, but Los Angeles will have just one more opportunity to get a win on its three-game road trip -- Sunday in an NBA Finals rematch at Orlando.

Jordan Farmer posted 12 points, while Pau Gasol had 11 with 13 rebounds, as the Lakers shot just 3-of-18 from long distance in defeat. It was the lowest point total for Los Angeles since scoring 79 in a loss to Denver on November 13.

Bynum recorded eight points and seven boards in the first quarter, and Los Angeles grabbed a 26-23 lead after 12 minutes, but Charlotte quickly erased its deficit and moved in front for good.

The Bobcats scored the first five points of the second quarter to move in front, and Thomas capped a 6-0 burst a short time later for a 34-29 edge.

Charlotte was able to increase its lead to six, 49-43, at halftime. The hosts then opened the second half on a 10-0 burst, as Wallace drilled a pair of threes for a commanding 59-43 advantage.

The Lakers never recovered and trailed, 75-63, heading to the fourth. The Bobcats' lead reached as high as 20 in the final quarter, as they coasted to the victory.

Game Notes

The teams split the season series, 1-1...Raymond Felton finished with 13 points for the Bobcats, who got 12 points from D.J. Augustin...Tyson Chandler, who missed the last seven games with a foot injury, scored six points and grabbed four rebounds in 15 minutes. Nazr Mohammed (back) did not play...Each team had 41 rebounds and 20 turnovers.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.