Hawks edge Pistons in OT

Basketball Betting Lines

01/27/2012 - Auburn Hills, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Johnson scored 30 points, including a game-tying three-pointer in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 107-101 overtime victory over the Detroit Pistons.

Marvin Williams added 22 points and eight rebounds, while Josh Smith had 19 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and three blocks in the Hawks' third win in four games.

Greg Monroe paced the Pistons with 22 points and 11 boards in Detroit's 13th loss in its last 15 games. Brandon Knight contributed 20 points and a career- high eight assists, and Jason Maxiell scored a season-high 19 points off the bench in defeat.

Atlanta trailed 68-63 entering the fourth quarter, but opened the frame with a 7-2 swing to knot the game at 70.

The Pistons, though, scored the next eight points to jump ahead again.

Detroit held at least a three-point lead over the next seven minutes until a pair of Austin Daye free throws put the Pistons up 85-76 with 1:47 to play.

After the teams traded buckets, Williams sank a shot from beyond the arc to cut the deficit to three with 33.5 seconds left on the clock.

The Pistons' Rodney Stuckey then had the ball roll out of bounds off his arm after a scramble on the ground, giving the ball back to the Hawks.

Johnson took the ball and set up on the top of the key on Atlanta's ensuing possession. He then turned his back to the net before throwing up a turnaround jumper that dropped into the net for the game-tying shot with 1.9 seconds left.

Knight's three-pointer at the buzzer bounced wide high off the glass to force overtime.

The extra period belonged entirely to the Hawks, as Atlanta opened overtime with a 12-2 run capped by back-to-back treys by Williams and Smith to jump out to a 99-89 lead.

Detroit could not get any closer than six points from there and the Hawks made enough free throws down the stretch to hold off a late push by the Pistons.

Detroit made just 6-of-23 shots from the floor in the first quarter, but held a 17-15 lead as the Hawks committed nine turnovers in the opening frame.

The Pistons never trailed in the second quarter and after five consecutive points by Williams tied the game at 29, Detroit closed out the half on a 17-6 run to take a 46-35 lead into the break.

Atlanta battled back with a 17-6 run to get within one, 56-55, with 4:00 to play in the third, but Detroit scored 12 of the next 20 points and took a 68-63 advantage into the fourth quarter.

Game Notes

Atlanta guard Jeff Teague left the game late in the third quarter after rolling his ankle on a shot attempt...Atlanta held a 49-44 advantage on the glass...Detroit finished the game shooting 40.9 percent, while Atlanta shot 48.8 percent.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

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