Cavs win division, continue home dominance of Pacers

Basketball Betting Lines

03/17/2010 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James nearly had his second straight triple-double, finishing with 32 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and the Cleveland Cavaliers captured their second straight Central Division title with a 99-94 win over the Indiana Pacers.

James, who is now three points shy of 15,000 for his career, added three steals and two blocks for the Cavs, who have won five straight to capture back-to-back division titles for the first time in franchise history.

Antawn Jamison added 17 points and nine rebounds, while J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao each had 13 in the victory, Cleveland's 24th in 28 games.

Roy Hibbert had 20 points lead the Pacers, who lost their 10th straight game in Cleveland and ninth straight on the road overall. Troy Murphy provided 19 points and 15 rebounds, and A.J. Price had 14 points in defeat.

Indiana played without Danny Granger, who suffered an upper cheek injury after being elbowed in a game on Tuesday. T.J. Ford (groin) also sat out.

Indiana trailed by 16 heading to the fourth but made a furious rally.

Brandon Rush capped a quick 8-0 burst in the opening moments with a short jumper to trim the deficit to 83-73, and a Murphy triple with 7:13 to go had the visitors within 87-82.

The Pacers got as close as one on an Earl Watson jumper with just under five minutes to go before James took over.

Rush went up for a go-ahead layup, but the reigning NBA MVP swatted the ball away against the backboard, which led to a Varejao layup. Varejao then stole the ball away and lofted up an alley-oop pass for James, who pulled off a reverse dunk amid three defenders.

A James fadeaway jumper pushed the Cavs' lead to 95-87 with 2 1/2 minutes left, and the Pacers never got within one possession down the stretch.

The Cavaliers grabbed a 30-25 lead after one quarter, but the Pacers clawed back to trail only by two, 50-48, at halftime.

James and the Cavs got hot early in the third quarter, helping the home team create some separation. Cleveland scored the first nine points of the frame, and James capped the spurt with a layup and two free throws for a 59-48 advantage.

James later hit consecutive jumpers -- one from three-point range -- for a 66-50 lead 4 1/2 minutes into the quarter, and he drilled another three moments later for a 17-point cushion.

Cleveland carried an 81-65 edge into the fourth.

Game Notes

The Pacers are 7-30 on the road this year, while the Cavs are a league-best 30-4 at home...Cleveland has won the last four meetings with Indiana and 13 of the last 14...James has four triple-doubles this season, while no other player in the league has more than one...Rush finished with 13 points, and Dahntay Jones had 10 for Indiana.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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