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02/08/2012 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Durant scored 33 points and made the go- ahead jumper with 14.2 seconds remaining, as the NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder snuck past Monta Ellis and the Golden State Warriors, 119-116.
Durant also pulled down 10 rebounds and dished out seven assists for the Thunder, who improved to 11-4 on the road this season. Russell Westbrook added 31 points and made two key free throws with 1.1 seconds remaining.
James Harden and Daequan Cook donated 19 and 17 points, respectively, for Oklahoma City, which holds a 20-5 record.
Ellis had a career-high 48 points and seven rebounds for the Warriors, who have dropped two straight. David Lee had a triple-double with 25 points 11 boards and 10 assists.
Cook's three-pointer cut Oklahoma City's deficit to one, 112-11, with 3:40 to play. The next points didn't come until there was 1:48 left, when Westbrook made a jumper to put the Thunder in front.
After Stephen Curry was called for traveling, Durant put home a slam to make it 115-112 with 1:23 left.
Dorell Wright made 1-of-2 from the foul line at the other end to make it a two-point game. The score was the same following a Westbrook turnover and a missed three-pointer by Durant.
Ellis drove to the hoop and made a layup while being fouled by Serge Ibaka. Ellis made the free throw to give Golden State a 116-115 lead with 22.3 seconds to go.
Durant missed a floater at the other end, but the Warriors knocked the ball out of bounds. This time around, Durant used the glass on an 18-foot jumper to give Oklahoma City a 117-116 edge with 14.2 seconds to play.
Westbrook made two free throws after Ellis missed a three-pointer. Down by three with 1.1 ticks left on the clock, Brandon Rush got the ball and missed a shot from beyond the arc.
Golden State scored the first eight points of the game and led throughout the entire first quarter. The home team held a 35-29 margin after 12 minutes.
The Thunder started the second period on a 13-2 run to take the lead. The visitors led by as many as 10 in the frame and took a 59-57 edge into the locker room.
Golden State responded in the third quarter and built an 80-68 lead with 5:07 remaining. But the Thunder scored seven of the final nine points in the stanza to cut their deficit to 93-91.
Neither team led by more than seven in the final period.
Game Notes
Oklahoma City beat Golden State by a 120-109 margin on January 27 in Oakland...Durant came into Tuesday's game averaging 31.3 points per game in 15 career meetings against the Warriors...Lee's second career triple-double was the first by a Warriors power forward since Chris Webber in 1993...Curry had 16 points and 10 assists...Each team shot over 52 percent from the field.
<< Avs beat slumping Blackhawks
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Jones scored twice as the Colorado
Avalanche took down the slumping Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2, at Pepsi Center.
Kyle Quincey, Peter Mueller and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal for the
Avalanch
<< Aves beat slumping Blackhawks
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - David Jones scored twice as the Colorado
Avalanche took down the slumping Chicago Blackhawks, 5-2, at Pepsi Center.
Kyle Quincey, Peter Mueller and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal for the
Avalanch
<< No. 3 Ohio State holds on, beats Purdue
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - William Buford netted a game-high 29 points
and added seven rebounds as No. 3 Ohio State fought off a resilient Purdue
team, 87-84, on Tuesday.
The teams exchanged the lead 16 times, but a jumper by
<< Canadiens top Penguins in shootout
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tomas Plekanec scored in the eighth round of
the shootout to help the Montreal Canadiens take a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh
Penguins at Bell Centre.
In the eighth round, Plekanec beat Marc-Andre Fleury to t
Western Illinois offensive coordinator resigns >>
Macomb, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Western Illinois is seeking an offensive
coordinator following the resignation of Doug Ruse on Tuesday.
He held the position over the the last two years, including the Leathernecks'
2010 FCS playoff season.
"
Sabres open homestand against Bruins >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The surging Buffalo Sabres will try to open a four-game
homestand on a positive note when they host the Boston Bruins this evening at
First Niagara Center.
The Bruins, meanwhile, will try to record consecutive wins for the
Nebraska entertains No. 22 Michigan >>
Lincoln, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Meeting for the first time in nearly 20 years,
the 22nd-ranked Michigan Wolverines and Nebraska Cornhuskers square off in
Lincoln tonight for a Big Ten Conference tussle at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
Michi
ACC heavyweights square off in Chapel Hill >>
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One of the greatest rivalries in all of
sports adds another chapter to its storied history this evening, as the 10th-
ranked Duke Blue Devils and fifth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels square off
in ACC action
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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