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This Week in Sports Betting, A-Z

by - 2/25/2016

New Orleans Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis

A. Anthony Davis . Davis went hog-wild in the Pelicans' 111-106 win at Detroit this past Sunday. He shot 24-of-34 from the floor for 59 points to go along with 20 rebounds. Two days later, the former No. 1 overall pick scored exactly 50 fewer points. That's right; Davis finished with a mere nine in a 109-89 loss at Washington.5Dimes Sportsbook has New Orleans as a +5.5 home underdog against Oklahoma State on Thursday.

B. Banned . Miami Marlins' manager Don Mattingly has banned facial hair for the 2016 season. Mattingly had no such policy in five seasons at the helm of the Dodgers, but he is implementing to begin his new gig. Are we sure this is the same Mattingly who sported an epic moustache during his playing days with the Yankees? Giancarlo Stanton is a +500 favorite at MyBookie.ag to lead the majors in home runs.

C. Carolina Panthers . The Panthers will not have Jared Allen next season on a defense that dominated Denver in Super Bowl 50, albeit in a losing effort. Allen announced his retirement last week after 12 seasons in the NFL, during which he made 136 sacks and was named to five Pro Bowls. Carolina is a +1000 fourth choice at Bovada Sportsbook to win Super Bowl LI.

D. Del Potro, Juan Martin . The oft-injured Argentine returned to tennis following an 11-month absence last week in Delray Beach. Although Del Potro did not take home the title, his comeback tournament could not have been expected to go much better. He won three matches before bowing out to eventual champion Sam Querrey in the semifinals.


E. Electronic scoring . Since the Daytona 500 adopted electronic scoring in 1993, last Sunday marked the closest finish in race history. Denny Hamlin edged Martin Truex Jr. by 0.01 seconds in a furious three-car battle coming around turn four on the final lap. Matt Kenseth was also involved, but Hamlin nudged in between between the two other leading cars and Kenseth got left out to dry.It is Hamlin's first Daytona 500 victory and the first for Joe Gibbs Racing since 1993. Kevin Harvick is a +450 favorite at GT Bets to win this weekend's QuickTrip 500.

F. FA Cup . Manchester City didn't just lose for a third consecutive match when it took the field last weekend. It got positively blown out. The Sky Blues succumbed 5-1 at Chelsea as the home team sailed into the FA Cup quarterfinals.

G. Grayson Allen . In a 63-62 win over Virginia on Feb. 13, the Duke guard took four steps without dribbling, went up to shoot, landed before shooting, and then drained a buzzer-beater. Naturally it counted since the Blue Devils were playing at home. Allen then scored 23 points in last week's surprising comeback victory at North Carolina, but the Devils saw their five-game winning streak snapped with a 71-64 loss at Louisville last weekend. Duke is a -9 home favorite over Florida State on Thursday, according to BetOnline Sportsbook.

H. Hinrich, Kirk . The Hawks were expected to be a major player at the trade deadline in terms of either buying or selling-or both. Instead, they did nothing more than swap backup guards (Shelvin Mack for Hinrich) and 2016 second-round draft picks. This is Hinrich's second stint in Atlanta intermixed with two much longer stints in Chicago.

I. Irving, Kyrie . Irving played only nine minutes last Sunday when Cleveland won at Oklahoma City because of…wait for it…bed bugs. And with this news, teams may have just figured out the only way to beat the Warriors (well, at least when the Warriors go on the road).


J. Jaromir Jagr . The Florida Panthers' ageless wonder passed Brett Hull for third all-time on the NHL scoring list by recording his 741st and 742nd goals in last Saturday's win over Winnipeg. The guy is freaking 44 years old and he has lit the lamp twenty times this season. Florida is a -190 home favorite over Arizona on Thursday, as indicated by Bovada Sportsbook.

K. Kristaps Porzingis . What happens when you go from being the laughingstock of the NBA Draft to averaging 13.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game? Celebrity status happens. And that means no privacy on a trip to the Caribbean during the all-star break. "I was thinking I'm going to go there, I'm going to relax, (and) nobody is going to bother me because I'm on vacation," Porzingis reflected." No. That didn't happen. That's what I'm going to have to deal with for the rest of my life…. This just showed me that I'm not a normal person anymore."

L. Lillard, Damian . Break up the Blazers! Lillard went off for 51 points of in a 137-105 victory over Golden State last Friday. That's right; they beat Golden State by 32 points. That was Portland's fourth win in a row and the team has not looked back. The winning streak is now at six following additional defeats of Utah and Brooklyn. Lillard has scored at least 30 points in five straight outings. The Blazers are -4.5 home favorites over Houston on Thursday, set by SportsBettingOnline.ag.

M. Manchester United . The Red Devils had their own fans curse them out following a 2-1 Europa League loss at Midtjylla last week. They will have a chance to reverse the curse in the second leg of their Europa League series with Midtjylla on Thursday. Arsenal is a +140 favorite at BookMaker to win the English Premier League.

N. Nick Kyrgios . Kyrgios, the guy who last summer infamously told Stan Wawrinka that Thanasi Kokkinakis banged his girlfriend, let his game do the talking last week. He captured his first ATP title in Marseille, making short work of Richard Gasquet, Tomas Berdych, and Marin Cilic in the process. Wawrinka could have set up a head-to-head showdown in the championship match but got bounced by Benoit Paire in the quarterfinals.

O. Out . Marc Gasol underwent surgery on Tuesday for a fracture in his right foot and he will miss the rest of the season. The Grizzlies' center was averaging 16.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.

P. Pacquiao, Manny . Ronda Rousey may not get a shot at Manny Pacquiao in the ring, but she did own him outside it by condemning his remarks comparing gay people to "animals." A much costlier condemnation came from Nike, which promptly dropped the Filipino boxer.

Q. Quarterman, Tim . LSU is playing itself right out of the NCAA Tournament, and Quarterman is a big reason why. One of Ben Simmons' main sidekicks, Quarterman has gone seven straight games without reaching double-figures. He has made no more than two shots from the floor in six consecutive outings. Wow.

R. Reyes, Jose . The Colorado Rockies' shortstop did not report to camp earlier this week, and he has now been placed on paid leave by Major League Baseball pending the completion of his domestic-violence case in Hawaii. Reyes was arrested last October after an argument with his wife allegedly turned physical at the Wailea Four Seasons Resort.

S. Saints . Last week was not a good one for Dayton, which lost to a pair of saints. The Flyers were out in front of the Atlantic 10 with an 11-1 conference record and comfortably in the top 25 with an overall mark of 21-3. But they lost at St. Joseph's 79-70 and then got upset at home 79-72 by St. Bonaventure.

T. Twitter . Last weekend Kurt Rambis-or at least Kurt Rambis' Twitter account-liked a pornographic tweet of a woman pleasuring herself, accompanied by the caption ""Love female masturbation #NSFW." Rambis is currently the interim coach of the Knicks, whose vice president of public relations said Rambis' account was hacked. Well, what else was he gonna say? "Yes, our head coach sifts through the internet for porn on the daily"???


U. Unofficial . Gift bags for nominees at the Academy Awards this year, which are "unofficial" because they are no longer sanctioned by the academy, include a 10-day trip to Israel, a 15-day walking tour of Japan, personalized M&Ms, toilet paper, plastic surgery, and a breast lift, among many other items. The total value is approximately $232,000.

V. Varejao, Anderson . Varejao joined Golden State last weekend after being bought out by the Warriors. He had one point, one assist, and three rebounds in 10 minutes in Wednesday's 118-112 win at Miami. The Warriors are -8 favorites at Orlando on Thursday, per GT Bets.

W. Watson, Bubba . Bubba led by a shot going into the final round of last week's Northern Trust Open but found himself trailing by two early in the back nine. The two-time Masters champion righted the ship with birdies on 16 and 17 to beat Adam Scott and Jason Kokrak by one stroke. Rory McIlroy put himself tied at the top with an eagle on the first before collapsing. Bubba is +1300 at BetDSI Sportsbook to win the Masters.

X. Xavier . A huge Big East showdown on Wednesday night saw Xavier take down top-ranked Villanova 90-83. Both teams were 24-3 at the time, and the Musketeers are now within a half-game of 'Nova in the conference standings at 13-3 to the Wildcats' 13-2.Seton Hall is third in the Big East, and WagerWeb has it as a -4 home favorite over Providence on Thursday.

Y. Yankees . At spring training last week, the Yankees showed a video to pitchers and catchers telling them to act more like Russell Wilson than Cam Newton. It compared and contrasted how Wilson dealt with Seattle's Super Bowl XLIX loss and how Newton handled the Panther's Super Bowl 50 setback. By the way, shouldn't all of the current Yankees already know how to cope with losses? BetOnline Sportsbook has NYY at +850 to win the American League Pennant.

Z. Zotto . Philadelphia Flyers' defenseman Michael Del Zotto is expected to miss three to four months following surgery to repair a damaged ligament in his left wrist. Del Zotto aggravated the lingering issue in a Feb. 13 overtime loss to New Jersey. The 25-year-old has a modest four goals and nine assists in 52 games this season, but he is leading the team in average ice time at 23:24 per contest.

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