Sixers resume homestand vs. Memphis

Basketball Betting Lines

03/02/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia 76ers will resume a six-game homestand tonight when they host the Memphis Grizzlies at the Wachovia Center.

Philadelphia has won the first two matchups on the stand, and posted a 99-94 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night. Andre Iguodala finished with 24 points, seven assists and seven rebounds to lead the Sixers.

Willie Green scored 20 points and gathered six rebounds while Kyle Korver donated 16 points for the 76ers, who have won two straight after a two-game losing streak.

Philly is 12-15 at home this season and will also host New Jersey, Seattle and the Los Angeles Lakers on the homestand. In injury news for the Sixers, rookie forward Rodney Carney (torn right rotator cuff/labrum) is expected to miss Friday's game against Memphis.

The Sixers are 12 games off the lead in the Atlantic Division.

The Grizzlies, meanwhile, have dropped two straight and five of their last six games, including Wednesday's 104-88 loss to the Utah Jazz at FedExForum.

Pau Gasol had 28 points and grabbed 13 boards for Memphis, which is last in the Southwest standings. Mike Miller added 17 points in a losing cause.

Memphis will hit the road where it is an NBA-worst 4-25 this season. On the injury front for the Grizzlies, guard Chucky Atkins (ankle) is doubtful against Philadelphia.

Friday's showdown between the Sixers and Grizzlies is the second and final meeting this season. Memphis won the first matchup, 118-102, on January 17 at FedExForum.

The Grizzlies have won five of seven and seven of the last 11 meetings in the series. They have also won three of the last five encounters in the City of Brotherly Love.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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