Warriors rally from 21 down to top Hornets

Basketball Betting Lines

03/18/2010 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Tolliver registered a career-high 30 points, as the Warriors rallied from down 21 late in the third quarter for a 131-121 triumph over the New Orleans Hornets.

Monta Ellis scored 28 points and tied a career-high with 13 assists, while Reggie Williams notched 22 points and Chris Hunter put in 17 as Golden State avoided the season sweep with only its second win in the last nine games.

The Hornets were led by David West's 36 points and season-high 15 rebounds, while rookie Darren Collison added 20 points and 14 assists to help build a seemingly comfortable 87-66 lead with 5:36 to go in the third before dropping their fourth game in the last five.

West's layup three minutes into the second half made it a 77-60 game and back- to-back threes by Collison and Morris Peterson jump-started a quick 10-2 burst minutes later to push the lead to 21. The Warriors rallied late in the frame to cut the deficit to 96-88 heading to the fourth.

That trend continued into the final period where Golden State shot 14-of-20 from the field (70 percent) and 9-of-13 from three-point range to pull off the comeback.

The Warriors hit five three-pointers in the first 5 1/2 minutes, and Williams struck twice on a minute for a 114-110 lead with 5:24 left. The barrage continued with threes from Williams, Tolliver and Anthony Morrow over the next 2 1/2 minutes as the margin grew to 125-116.

The hosts were able to seal the game at the line from there.

The Hornets held a 34-30 edge after the opening 12 minutes and kept their offense on the right track in the first half to lead 69-56 at halftime.

Golden State had cut the lead to one on several occasions in the second, including on Tolliver's jump shot with four minutes left, but the hosts went without another field goal the rest of the half.

Game Notes

New Orleans is a miserable 8-15 since losing All-Star Chris Paul to a knee injury...New Orleans was aiming for its first sweep of Golden State since 2001-02...The Hornets fell to 1-2 on a five-game road trip...Peterson scored 17 and rookie Marcus Thornton went for 14 in the loss...Stephen Curry sat for the Warriors with a sprained left ankle...Golden State had a season-high 43 points in the fourth.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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