Daily Sports Roundup
Wednesday, February 17
Today in the Daily Sports Roundup: The men's hockey tournament continues in Vancouver, while Purdue takes on Ohio State, and San Antonio battles Indiana.
Tipping off on the hardwood . . .
The NBA offers up a busy slate of 11 games on Wednesday, including San Antonio at Indiana. The Spurs (30-21 SU, 25-25-1 ATS) ended the first half of the season with a 111-92 road win over the Nuggets. DeJuan Blair and George Hill each scored 17 points for San Antonio in that contest, while Tim Duncan picked up 16 points and seven rebounds. The Pacers (18-34 SU, 22-30 ATS) enter Wednesday's matchup on a two-game losing streak. Indiana fell 109-101 at home to Chicago in their last game, despite a 27-point effort from Danny Granger
Also on the NBA hardwood on Wednesday: Memphis at Toronto, Minnesota at Washington, Detroit at Orlando, Chicago at New York, Miami at New Jersey, Houston at Milwaukee, Utah at New Orleans, Phoenix at Dallas, Sacramento at Golden State, and Atlanta at the Clippers. The Hawks (33-18 SU, 32-19 ATS) will be looking to bounce back from an ugly 94-76 loss at home to Miami in their last outing. Josh Smith had a team-high 18 points for Atlanta in that loss, while Joe Johnson added 16 points. The Hawks scored just 12 points in the fourth quarter.
The college basketball schedule features a matchup between two ranked teams on Wednesday, with No. 4 Purdue at No. 9 Ohio State. The Boilermakers (21-3 SU, 11-12-1 ATS) had no trouble getting past Iowa in their last game, winning 63-40 behind 21 points from JaJuan Johnson. The Buckeyes (20-6 SU, 13-13 ATS) blasted Illinois 72-53 last time out, as Jon Diebler tossed in 18 points. Ohio State and Purdue already met on January 12, with the Buckeyes winning 70-66.
Other games involving ranked teams on Wednesday: No. 21 Temple at St. Bonaventure, Nebraska at No. 7 Kansas State, Illinois-Chicago at No. 18 Butler, No. 8 West Virginia at Providence, No. 6 Duke at Miami, Georgia at No. 20 Tennessee, No. 16 BYU at Colorado State, No. 15 Texas at Missouri, Wyoming at No. 12 New Mexico, and Fordham at No. 25 Richmond. The Spiders (20-6 SU, 14-8 ATS) jumped into the rankings this week riding a six-game winning streak; Richmond got past St. Bonaventure by a 68-49 score in their Saturday matchup.
Taking a trip around the rink . . .
Finally, the Olympic men's hockey tournament stages its second day of competition on Thursday, with Finland vs. Belarus, Sweden vs. Germany, and the Czech Republic vs. Slovakia. The Czechs will be looking to ride goaltender Tomas Vokoun into medal position at this tournament; the Florida Panthers netminder is tied (with Canada's Martin Brodeur) for the NHL lead in shutouts with seven on the season, and he's also ranked first in save percentage (.931). The Slovaks are hoping that sniper Marian Hossa (concussion) will be able to participate in Wednesday's matchup; Hossa has been practicing with the team.
Today's Wagering Tips
Wednesday, February 17
Lines off the board
San Antonio Spurs at Indiana Pacers – Tony Parker (hip) missed last game before the break and is questionable.
Chicago Bulls at New York Knicks – Derrick Rose (hip) was probable heading into Tuesday’s game and Joakim Noah (foot) was doubtful. Nate Robinson (flu) did not travel with the team to Chicago on Tuesday because of an illness.
Sacramento Kings at Golden State Warriors – Monta Ellis (knee) missed last two games and is doubtful.
Weather to watch
The men’s super combined competition (skiing) at the Winter Olympics was postponed Tuesday due to heavy snow. American Bode Miller will compete in the event but there has been no makeup date and time announced.
Wednesday’s forecast for Vancouver calls for a high of 52 degrees with sunny skies and no precipitation.
Who’s hot
The Bucks are 11-2 ATS in their last 13 outings.
West Virginia forward Da’Sean Butler has scored 25 points or more in three of his last five games.
Who’s not
The Grizzlies are 1-6 SU and ATS in their last seven and are also 1-6 SU in their last seven road games.
Northern Illinois has dropped eight in a row and are 1-5-2 ATS during that stretch.
Key stats
14.8 – Average margin of victory by the Moutaineers over Providence during its five-game winning streak. West Virginia is laying 6.5 points to the Friars on the road Wednesday.
Injury that shouldn’t be overlooked
Golden State Warriors guard Monta Ellis did not play in Tuesday's game versus the Lakers and will likely miss Wednesday’s matchup against the Kings. Ellis sprained his left knee the second-to-last game before the All-Star break. He was scheduled to have the knee examined by the renowned Dr. James Andrews who repaired his ACL in high school. Ellis leads the Warriors in scoring with 26.2 ppg and dishes out 5.4 assists per with 2.2 steals per outing.
Game of the day
Purdue Boilermakers at Ohio State Buckeyes (-3, 134)
Notable quotable
"Sometimes they don't understand me but that's OK. If they understand 90 percent of the time, then that's enough."
China's women's ice hockey team coach Hannu Juhani Saintula who is Finnish.
Tips and notes
Tyrus Thomas has worn out his welcome in Chicago and is expected to be traded before Thursday’s deadline. The athletic power forward served a one-game suspension last week following a verbal tirade directed toward the coach. Thomas only played 15 minutes in three of the last five games and the Bulls went 1-4 SU and ATS during that span.
The Olympic women’s hockey matchup between Canada and Sweden has a total of 7.5 goals. Canada won their tournament opener 18-0 and cruised to a 10-1 victory over Switzerland on Monday. Coach Melody Davidson said of the Swiss game, “We didn’t battle as hard as we could.” The spread is 5.5 and Canada may exceed the total by themselves.
Australian Geoff Ogilvy is defending his WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship on Wednesday and has won the event twice in the last four years. The tournament will again be held at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and Ogilvy is the favorite at +1215 odds. Steve Stricker (+1415) is the hottest golfer in the world right now and won this event in 2001.
Winter Olympic Games Wagering Options for Wednesday
The men will attempt to dazzle the judges in Vancouver with grace and guile during the figure skating event set to melt the ice on Wednesday.
In this competition, the men will perform two programs – short and free skate – that are set to music and will be judged on creativity, technical difficulty and innovation.
Evgeni Plushenko is the heavy favorite to take his second straight gold medal in this event. Swiss Stephane Lambiel took the silver at Torino in 2006.
* Evgeni Plushenko -175
* Evan Lysacek +725
* Stephane Lambiel +1015
* Brian Joubert +1015
* Patrick Chan +1215
* Daisuke Takahashi +1415
* Jeremy Abbott +1615
* Nobunari Oda +2050
Curling has become a popular sport as evidenced by its feature appearance on The Simpsons last week.
A team of four players guide a granite stone on ice toward its “house”. The scoring is similar to horseshoes or shuffleboard where each team earns points by being closest to the target.
China was a short favorite (9/4) to win the gold in this event behind Canada (5/4) and will face Great Britain on Wednesday.
China has never competed in this event during Olympic competition but won the 2009 world championships.
* China -250
* Great Britain +210
The men’s 1000-meter speed skating event will take place on Wednesday, and surprisingly, an American is favored to win.
The event takes place on a 400-meter track and the athletes must switch lanes four times.
Shani Davis is the defending gold medal winner and took the last world championships in this competition in 2007 and 2008.
South Korean Kyou Hyuk has won three world championships in the sprint speed skating ranks and is the second favorite to win the gold.
* Shani Davis 8/15
* Lee Kyou Hyuk 6/1
* Jeremy Wotherspoon 13/2
* Denny Morrison 8/1
* Mo Tae-Bum 14/1
* Chad Hedrick 20/1
* Joon Mun 25/1
* Mark Tuitert 20/1
* Simon Kuipers 25/1
* Mika Poutala 33/1
* Jan Bos 40/1
* Trevor Marsicano 18/1
* Yevgeny Lalenkov 50/1