Cavaliers top Lakers for first Staples Center win

Basketball Betting Lines

02/16/2007 - Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James poured in 38 points and hit the go-ahead jumper with just over three minutes left, as the Cavaliers secured their first win at the Staples Center with a 114-108 triumph over the struggling Los Angeles Lakers.

James went 10-of-16 from the field and feasted at the foul line with an 18-for-22 effort, as the Cavaliers won for the fourth time in five contests leading to the All-Star break.

"It was important to be aggressive tonight," James said. "I just wanted to be aggressive and the guys fed off it."

The Cavs snapped a seven-game road skid versus the Lakers, winning an away contest against them for the first time since Dec. 7, 1997.

"LeBron James attacked tonight," Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. "When he attacks he is hard to guard. He finished at the rim. When he plays like this it's contagious to our team."

Kobe Bryant had 34 points and missed just one of his 15 free throws, but the Lakers fell for a fifth consecutive time overall and for a fourth straight time at home.

This marks only the third time in Phil Jackson's coaching career he's had a five-game losing streak, one coming with Chicago and two with the Lakers. He's never had a six-game losing streak in his 16-year NBA coaching career, and will try to avoid that when the Lakers take the court again next Wednesday at home against Portland.

"They took the ball right to us and we didn't have an answer for it," Jackson said.

Lamar Odom ended with 20 points for the Lakers, who lost for the 11th time in 15 contests.

James nailed a fadeaway jumper with 3:05 left to give the Cavs a 102-101 lead, and after a Bryant turnover on a bad pass, Sasha Pavlovic drilled a three- pointer.

The Lakers were able to get as close as one, as Bryant made a three-pointer with 34.3 seconds left, but James was then fouled with 20.1 seconds left.

Then came the turning point.

James hit the first free throw, but missed the second. LA's Ronny Turiaf couldn't secure the rebound and Anderson Varejao got the rebound. James was fouled and sank two free throws with 11.7 seconds left for a 112-108 margin.

Bryant then missed a three-pointer and Varejao put the final touches on Cleveland's win with a pair of free throws.

Varejao ended with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Larry Hughes scored 14 and Eric Snow had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers.

Sasha Vujacic scored 14, while Smush Parker and Andrew Bynum each had 12 for the Lakers.

The Cavs led 29-28 after one quarter and were clinging to a 56-54 edge at the half. It was 91-85 Cleveland going into the fourth.

Game Notes

Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas sat out his second straight game due to attend to a family health issue...It's off to Las Vegas for the NBA's biggest stars, as this was the final game on the schedule before the midseason contest at the Thomas & Mack Center...Bryant had a streak of 36 straight free throws coming into the game and made his first seven in this game before missing early in the third quarter...Drew Gooden had 12 points, while Pavlovic and Donyell Marshall each had 11 for the Cavs.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.

Online Sportsbook Football Betting

LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP

With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone after his all out assault on the record books last season. For those suffering from amnesia or were under a rock last football season, all L.T. did last season was set the NFL record for rushing touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (31) and total points scored (186) to go along with his 1815 rushing yards and 508 receiving yards. At 6-1, Tom Brady is next in line which isn’t surprising considering all of the firepower the Pats added over the off-season. With the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker; it would be quite difficult for Brady’s numbers not to improve from last years 3529 yards and 24 touchdowns. There appears to be some decent value in Drew Bees at 10-1 considering he probably would have won the award last year if it wasn’t for L.T.’s record breaking season.

There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.

Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to check out the complete odds for NFL MVP as well as all of the new football related futures. With the popularity of NFL futures, these betting lines will be sure to change as the money comes in; get the early sports lines now.

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