Jennings, Bucks visit lowly Pistons

Basketball Betting Lines

02/03/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fear the deer.

Opposing teams are beginning to build some trepidation for Milwaukee Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings too. Jennings and the resurgent Bucks will hit the road tonight to take on the lowly Detroit Pistons and look to win four straight games for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign.

Milwaukee has disposed of some of the NBA's hottest teams lately and became the only club to beat star-studded Miami twice this season with a 105-97 victory on Wednesday behind 31 points and eight assists from Jennings, who buried 7-of-14 three-pointers and helped the Bucks erase an 18-point deficit in the first half. The Bucks also survived a 40-point performance from Heat star LeBron James, but it was Jennings who stole the show.

"Brandon was great," Bucks head coach Scott Skiles said of his point guard. "When we needed big shots he was able to knock them down."

Drew Gooden scored 12 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and Ersan Ilyasova added nine points and 14 rebounds. Carlos Delfino and Mike Dunleavy scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, in Milwaukee's season-high third straight win and sixth in the past eight tries. The Bucks, who will play three of five games as the guest, will try to work on their 3-9 record away from home this evening at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Jennings has tallied 20-plus points in eight of the last nine games, averaging 24.3 ppg over that span. Ilyasova is averaging 9.3 points and 10.1 rebounds over his last six contests. The Bucks have scored 100 or more points in each of the last five games, the longest streak since the 2007-08 season.

Detroit is mired in a season-high seven-game slide and hasn't lost eight in a row since an 11-game slump from March 13-April 3, 2010. It is coming off an 0-4 road trip which ended with Wednesday's 99-96 loss at New Jersey.

Greg Monroe and Tayshaun Prince both scored 21 points, while Brandon Knight ended with 15 and missed a three-pointer with 1.8 seconds to go.

"It felt good, but it didn't go in," Knight said. "I would have liked to have been a little more open."

Prince is averaging 16.0 points in his last 10 games and Monroe is posting 18.0 points and 10.2 rebounds in his previous six. Monroe has recorded a double-double in five of his last six games. Knight is averaging 13.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 18 games as a starter.

The Pistons are just 4-20 under first-year head coach Lawrence Frank, who piloted the Nets from 2004 until early on in the 2009-10 season. Frank's bunch will play 12 of its next 17 games on its home floor and is 3-8 at The Palace.

Detroit has lost the first two meetings of the season with Milwaukee and three of the last four overall matchups in this series. The Bucks have lost two straight, three of four and 13 of their past 16 trips to Auburn Hills. Jennings is averaging 24.0 ppg in the two meetings with Detroit this season, while Monroe has averaged 24 points and 13 rebounds.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!

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