Daily Sports Roundup
Monday, February 8
Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The Maple Leafs play host to the Sharks, the Jayhawks take on the Longhorns, and the Spurs battle the Lakers in Los Angeles.
Tipping off on the hardwood . . .
The NBA offers up three games on Monday, with New Orleans at Orlando, Dallas at Golden State, and San Antonio at the Lakers. The Spurs had no trouble getting past the Clippers in their last game on Saturday night, rolling to a 98-81 road victory. George Hill picked up a team-high 22 points for San Antonio in that win, while Tony Parker had 14 assists. The Lakers got past Portland 99-82 on the road on Saturday despite Kobe Bryant sitting out to rest his sore ankle. Ron Artest had 21 points for the Lakers that night, while Lamar Odom had 22 boards.
As well, there are a couple of marquee ranked matchups on the college basketball schedule for Monday, with Villanova at West Virginia, and Kansas at Texas. The Jayhawks got 20 points and 11 rebounds from Marcus Morris in their 75-64 win over Nebraska in their Saturday matchup. Sherron Collins added 17 points for Kansas in that win, while Cole Aldrich was held to eight points. The Longhorns were beaten 80-71 by Oklahoma in their Saturday outing. Avery Bradley scored 21 points in the loss for Texas, which is 2-4 in its last six games.
Taking a trip around the rink . . .
Finally, there are five games on the ice on Monday as the NHL enters its final week before the Olympic break: New Jersey at Philadelphia, St. Louis at Colorado, Edmonton at Phoenix, Los Angeles at Anaheim, and San Jose at Toronto. The Sharks picked up a 4-3 road win over the Predators in their last game on Saturday, with Dany Heatley scoring his 31st and 32nd goals of the season. The Maple Leafs blanked the Senators 5-0 on Saturday; J-S Giguere got the shutout in that victory, while Phil Kessel and Luke Schenn both scored twice.
Today's Wagering Tips
Monday, February 8
Line off the board today
San Antonio Spurs at Los Angeles Lakers: Lakers Kobe Bryant (ankle) and Will Bynum (hip) are listed as questionable.
Line to keep an eye on
New Orleans Hornets at Orlando Magic: The Magic opened as 8-point favorites and the line quickly dropped to 7.5.
Who's hot
Los Angeles Kings have won nine in a row.
Phoenix Coyotes are 6-1 in their last seven.
San Jose Sharks are 8-2 in their last 10.
Who's not
Golden State Warriors have lost eight in a row SU.
Dallas Mavericks are 1-8 ATS in their last nine.
Edmonton Oilers are 3-22 in their last 25.
Texas Longhorns are 1-9 ATS in their last 10.
Key stat
13 - The number of years in a row the NFC team has won the opening coin toss in the Super Bowl. The odds of the same team winning 13 consecutive coin tosses is 8,100 to 1.
Injury that shouldn't be overlooked
Kobe Bryant's decision to sit out of Saturday's game and possibly the next two is overshadowing the loss of center Andrew Bynum, who left Saturday's game with a bruised hip. He is listed as questionable for tonight's game against the San Antonio Spurs and could be a huge loss inside against Tim Duncan and Antonio McDyess. Bynum is averaging 15.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
Biggest game on the slate
Villanova at West Virginia: The No. 2 team in the nation visits No. 6 for this big Big East showdown. The Wildcats lost at Georgetown on Saturday and traveled in blizzard conditions to similarly snowy West Virginia. The Mountaineers opened as 5-point favorites but that number dropped to 4.5. The total launched at 151 but fell to 150.
Notable quotable
"This is one of the things teams hate - kicking the ball off to Peyton Manning after he's had all of halftime to look at pictures ...''
-CBS play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz just as the New Orleans Saints successfully executed an onside kick to start the second half of Super Bowl XLIV that changed the momentum of the game.
Tips and notes
The Orlando Magic had little time to celebrate Sunday's victory over the Celtics - their first in a stretch of four games in five days - with a long flight back to Florida to face the New Orleans Hornets tonight. This is a scheduling trap for the Magic, with the Hornets sandwiched between games against Eastern Conference elites Boston and Cleveland.
This Philadelphia power outage has nothing to do with the weekend blizzard. The Flyers have had a hard time finding the net lately, connecting on just one of 72 shots in losing their last two. With Danny Syvret out through the Olympic break and Ray Emery questionable, the Flyers hope the addition of Ville Leino will help light an offensive fire.
Not to beat a dead Longhorn, but Texas' poor free-throw shooting has gotten even worse, dropping to 337th in the nation. Texas hit just 10 of 27 in Saturday's loss to Oklahoma, which made 20 of 28 in a nine-point win. Texas has made just 69 of 132 in losing four of their last six entering tonight's game with Kansas.