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 NBA Finals: Defense and AdjustmentsBig Al McMordie - 6/7/2010 12:11 PM When the LA Lakers won the NBA title a year ago, their defense was exceptional. In the NBA Finals against the Magic, in four of the five games they held Orlando to 41%, 30%, 42% and 41% shooting (all wins). The NBA Finals pit the best against the best, so it often comes down to defense and adjustments. In Game 1 this year, the Lakers outplayed Boston in a double digit win. Two years ago, Kevin... |
| NBA Finals Fever! Jim Feist - 5/31/2010 11:27 AM by Jim Feist Think Kobe Bryant wants to win another title without Shaq? Think Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen want a second ring? "I just want it so bad," said Bryant a year ago on the eve of the Finals. "I just want it really bad." Shaq used to say that Bryant was easily the most motivated player in the NBA. In Game 1 last season the Lakers looked fired up and focused in a 100-75 pa... |
| Here We Go Again Big Al McMordie - 5/31/2010 10:42 AM Here We Go Again, By Big Al McMordie Here we go again! The Lakers and Celtics meet in the finals for the 12th time with Game 1 Thursday night in Los Angeles. They are the NBA champions each of the last two years -- Boston beat the Lakers two years ago, and Los Angeles topped Orlando last season.There's a lot to like about how even many of the matchups are, but there are some key differences with... |
| NBA Playoffs: Veterans, Confidence and Defense Big Al McMordie - 5/24/2010 12:30 PM NBA Playoffs: Veterans, Confidence and Defense By Big Al McMordie The enemy of youth is time, as time turns youth into old age. However, a by-product of age is experience, though it's not always an even tradeoff. Experience (adding Shaq and Antoine Walker) helped the veteran Miami Heat roll to a title in 2006 against the young Mavericks. The veteran Celtics won in 2008... |
| Lean Toward Big Dogs More than Big Chalk Jim Feist - 5/24/2010 12:23 PM April and May means that many novice sports bettors may look at the matchups and lean toward ace pitchers and lay the big price. But let me say four words to you: Do not do it. Baseball is unique from football and basketball in that there is no point spread. Instead you bet merely on which team will win the game and this translates into a money-line wager. When betting baseball, most profe... |
| NBA Playoffs: Beware of Blowouts Jim Feist - 5/17/2010 12:45 PM The NBA playoffs are in full swing, which means overall the better teams are battling each other. This is different from the regular season when many nights great teams are playing bad teams and bad teams are playing worse one. Astute sports bettors should pay very careful attention to blowouts. For instance, after losing Game 1, the Celtics stunned the Cavaliers in Game 2, 104-86, at Clevel... |
| Baseball Hot and Cold Starts Jim Feist - 5/10/2010 12:47 PM Baseball Hot and Cold Starts by Jim Feist More than any other sport, baseball is a game of patience. It's not how you start, but where you finish, and with a 162-game regular season, there is a LOT of baseball left. Did your team get off to a bad start? Well don't panic. There is plenty of time to make adjustments and turn things around. Did your team get off to a hot start? Don't start maki... |
| Postseason Basketball and Earlier Meetings Jim Feist - 5/3/2010 12:22 PM Postseason Basketball and Earlier Meetings by Jim Feist As the NBA playoffs roll on, handicappers should take careful note of how teams did against each other during the regular season. Examine head to head matchups individually and as a group. Does one team dominate another? If so, are the reasons for this, or was it merely a fluke during the long grind of an 82-game schedule? Somet... |
| Postseason Basketball and Earlier Meetings Jim Feist - 5/3/2010 12:21 PM Postseason Basketball and Earlier Meetings by Jim Feist As the NBA playoffs roll on, handicappers should take careful note of how teams did against each other during the regular season. Examine head to head matchups individually and as a group. Does one team dominate another? If so, are the reasons for this, or was it merely a fluke during the long grind of an 82-game schedule? Somet... |
| Defense and Totals in the NBA Playoffs Jim Feist - 4/26/2010 1:53 PM by Jim Feist The NBA playoffs started over the weekend, which is a good time to revisit an old sports adage: Defense wins championships. Look at some recent Super Bowl winners. You might not realize this, but Colts QB Peyton Manning didn't have a stellar postseason four years ago, with 3 TDs and 7 INTs. The real story for the Colts' run to the title was their improved defense, especially ag... |
| How Do You Spell Success? T-E-A-M Big Al McMordie - 4/26/2010 7:49 AM You need talent, of course, to advance in the NBA playoffs. You need defense, too. Another key that is sometimes overlooked is a four letter word for postseason success: T-E-A-M. I thought of that this weekend as the young Oklahoma City squad battered the Lakers to tie their series 2-2. Oklahoma City is now 3-0 ATS the last three games, winning two, and they've done it with teamwork an... |
| NBA Playoffs: Its in the Match-Ups Big Al McMordie - 4/22/2010 10:52 AM NBA Playoffs: It's in the Match-Ups By Big Al McMordie The opening day of the NBA playoffs, last Saturday, had a pair of overs and a pair of unders, the kind of balance oddsmakers like. Even less surprising was that the game featuring the uptempo teams (Utah, Denver) sailed over the total, while defensive-oriented teams like the Heat, Celtics and Cavaliers sailed under. What... |
| NFL Draft Preview by Great Lakes Sports Great Lakes Sports - 4/21/2010 2:43 PM Welcome to the NFL Draft for the 2010-2011 season, and we here at Great Lakes Sports will give you our top five prospects for this year’s NFL Draft. We would like to wish you good luck from Great Lakes Sports. 1. Sam Bradford (Oklahoma)- This former Oklahoma Sooner is the top Quarterback in this year’s draft with his quick release and accuracy in which he has completed (67.6%) of his passes in... |
| NBA Playoff Preview: West Jim Feist - 4/19/2010 1:02 PM Start your engines! The NBA playoffs are in full swing, time for endless full court action every night as the league crowns another champion. Let's take a look at the best of the West, the conference that has won eight of the last 11 NBA titles. No. 1 Lakers vs. No. 8 Thunder Lakers: The defending champs began the season raising a banner and, with a relatively young star studded starti... |
| NFL Mock Draft by Great Lakes Sports Great Lakes Sports - 4/16/2010 10:07 PM Here go with NFL Mock Draft for the first round from Great Lakes Sports for the 2010-2011 NFL season, and be sure to check back this weekend for our NFL Draft Preview and as always-good luck from Great Lakes Sports. 1. St Louis- QB Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) 2. Detroit- DT Ndamukong Suh (Nebraska) 3. Tampa Bay- DT Gerald McCoy (Oklahoma) 4. Washington- OT Russell Okung (Oklahoma State) 5. Kans... |
| NBA Stretch Run: The Best of the East Jim Feist - 4/12/2010 1:24 PM It's been a long haul, this 82-game NBA regular season, but the playoffs are just around the corner. So who wins the NBA title? The most talented team? The luckiest? The favorites? We all know the favorites don't waltz to the NBA Finals. We just watched tiny Butler, a fifth seed, advance to the NCAA Championship game. They were joined in the Final Four by Michigan State, another fifth seed.... |
| Ohio State Recruiting by Great Lakes Sports Great Lakes Sports - 4/12/2010 11:05 AM The Ohio State Buckeyes have another solid recruiting class in College Football, as they were ranked the number 20 by Scout.com. The Buckeyes top recruit for the 2010 season is 5’11" cornerback Christian Bryant who is a 4 star recruit from Glenville High School out of Cleveland Ohio and should step right in to help the Buckeye secondary. The Buckeyes also grab a top notch wide receiver 6"1" Cory B... |
| We are sorry, just no other way to say it. Triple Threat Sports - 4/11/2010 4:31 AM Back in December of 2009 we had one of our best "Plays the Year" ever as underdog Washington just DOMINATED Cal as our College Football Play of the Year. Well, yesterday we had the other - much more painful - side of the pendulum, as the Denver Nuggets laid a major egg as our NBA Play of the Year. We do not hide from the play, we released it and live with the consequences, as well as a slew of los... |
| Basketball Success: Players or Coaches? Big Al McMordie - 4/8/2010 2:01 PM Good coaches are tough to beat, especially at crunch time, while bad coaches will beat themselves. This is true in every sport and it's important to understand the value of coaching. A good coach needs talent to win, of course, and the best college coaches are also good recruiters. But winning attracts talent, and good coaches are the foundation for a winning program. Great coaches are also rare,... |
| Baseball Pitchers: A Different Breed Jim Feist - 4/5/2010 2:38 PM As we start the baseball season this week, it's a good time to point out that this is an age of specialization for baseball pitchers. You have starters, closers, middle relievers, long relief, set-up men and lefty specialists. Some pitchers feel more comfortable and excel in the role of set-up man than closer, for example. It can all seem overwhelming and even silly at times. I recall an... |
| NCAA Final Four Preview by Great Lakes Sports Great Lakes Sports - 4/2/2010 7:28 AM Welcome to the last weekend of College Basketball games for the 2009-10 season. We here at Great Lakes Sports will give you a quick preview of this weeks final four games, and as always good luck this weekend from Great Lakes Sports. The first game we will touch on is the Michigan State Spartans vs the Butler Bulldogs. The Michigan State Spartans are on a major winning roll going 7-1 in their... |
| FINAL FOUR MANIA Scott Spreitzer - 3/30/2010 4:48 PM The Madness won't be ending - it will merely be concluding this weekend. And what a photo finish! For underdog lovers, you have banged up Michigan State and Butler (Butler?!) battling it out for the right to play Monday in the title game in Indianapolis. For heavyweight boxing fans, we have the titanic clash between big-name coaches and power frontcourts as Duke and Mike Krzyzewski lock hor... |
| Late Season NBA + A Tribute to Lee Pete Jim Feist - 3/29/2010 2:01 PM Editor's Note: Las Vegas and the sports world overall lost a friend earlier this week when Lee Pete passed away at the age of 85 after battling various ailments, including Lou Gehrig's disease. Pete was one of the pioneers of the now-burgeoning sports-talk radio genre, doing shows in Las Vegas for three decades beginning in the early 1970s. "When I first came to Las Vegas in the early 70's... |
| Thursday East Regional Analysis Triple Threat Sports - 3/25/2010 8:40 AM All of our Direct Service action tonite is in the West Regional, but of course we took a long look at the East Regional as well. Presented below are the exact writeups our Direct Clients got on those two games, featuring Cornell vs Kentucky and Washington vs West Virginia: Top Opinion: Cornell (+) over Kentucky Big Red have not played a typical Ivy League schedule, as they have played six games... |
| Tourney Matchup Tips Jim Feist - 3/22/2010 1:50 PM by Jim Feist It's the final stretch of a long college basketball season. There are better teams, tougher matchups, and defensive intensity. It's a good time of the season to look backward -- to look back, that is, to conference regular season play and early season matches against different conferences. That's because it can be tougher to analyze matchups during the Big Dance, with teams like... |
| NCAA Tournament Preview by Great Lakes Sports Great Lakes Sports - 3/16/2010 3:24 PM Welcome t o another exciting NCAA Tournament this year. We here at Great Lakes Sports Will give you a preview of the contenders in this year’s Big Dance, and Great Lakes Sports would like to wish you good luck this upcoming NCAA tournament season. NCAA Contenders: Kansas – The number one ranked Kansas Jayhawks is having an outstanding year going amazing 32-2 including winning five in a row.... |
| March Hoops: Beware of the No-Name Teams Jim Feist - 3/15/2010 1:43 PM It's that time of year again: Basketball games night and day, day and night and after a few hours of sleep, we wake up the next day and go through it all over again. College tournament play is one of the most enjoyable times of the year for sports fans and bettors, with a seemingly endless stream of action and excitement. Big name schools often end up playing for the title. Florida of t... |
| SEC T o u r n a m e n t P r e v i e w by Great Lakes Sports Great Lakes Sports - 3/10/2010 6:57 PM Welcome t o another exciting Conference Tournament this year. We here at Great Lakes Sports Will give you a preview of the contenders in the SEC Conference Tournament, and Great Lakes Sports would like to wish you good luck this upcoming conference tournament season. SEC Contenders: Kentucky – The Kentucky Wildcats are having an outstanding year going 29-2 heading in to conference tournament... |
| Vernon Croys March Madness Betting Vernon Croy - 3/10/2010 9:52 AM March Madness is the U.S. college basketball championships, also known as the NCAA Tournament. It covers both men's and women's NCAA college tournaments, which take place throughout March to determine the men's and women's college basketball champs in the U.S. The tournament starts with 64 teams and after each round of play, the number of teams is whittled down until only two men's and two women's... |
| Pac 10 CBB Conference Tournament Preview 2010 Rocketman Sports - 3/10/2010 7:40 AM Pac 10 Conference Tournament Preview The Pac 10 has caught a lot of flack for being down this year and deservedly so. There isn’t one dominant team in the league that looks to be a threat to make it to the Final Four. California is however the best team in this conference and have to be regarded as the favorite... |
| Big 12 CBB Conference Tournament Preview 2010 Rocketman Sports - 3/10/2010 7:28 AM Big 12 Conference Tournament Preview Kansas is the top team in the country and by far the most talented team in the Big 12. Everyone will be gunning for the Jayhawks in order to solidify an automatic bid. Kansas checks in at 29-2 overall and 15-1 in conference play. The next best team in the conference is... |
| Big East CBB Conference Tournament Preview Rocketman Sports - 3/9/2010 12:33 AM Big East Conference Tournament Preview Year in and year out, the Big East is always the most wide open conference tournaments. This due to the strength of the league as the Big East boasts eight teams with at least 20+ wins. Syracuse won the regular season title posting a 15-3 conference record, finishing 2 gam... |
| Atlantic 10 Conference CBB Tournament Preview Rocketman Sports - 3/8/2010 11:58 PM Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Preview There are three teams in the top tier of the Atlantic 10 Conference and all three have a great shot at winning this tournament. Temple is obviously the favorite as they enter the post-season with an overall record 26-5 and an outstanding conference record of 14-2. The n... |
| The Value of Senior Leadership Jim Feist - 3/8/2010 3:40 PM by Jim Feist It's time! Time for college basketball teams to begin conference tourney play, also known as separating the contenders from the pretenders. It's important to understand and closely examine the schedule of college hoop teams. Some teams start off the season playing a bunch of cream puffs, while others face a mixture of good and bad teams. What has taken shape the last few month... |
| The Value of Senior Leadership Jim Feist - 3/8/2010 3:39 PM by Jim Feist It's time! Time for college basketball teams to begin conference tourney play, also known as separating the contenders from the pretenders. It's important to understand and closely examine the schedule of college hoop teams. Some teams start off the season playing a bunch of cream puffs, while others face a mixture of good and bad teams. What has taken shape the last few month... |
| Big Ten Tournament Preview by Great Lakes Sports Great Lakes Sports - 3/8/2010 7:14 AM Welcome t o another exciting Conference Tournament this year. We here at Great Lakes Sports will give you a preview of the contenders in the Big Ten Conference Tournament and Great Lakes Sports would like to wish you good luck this upcoming conference tournament season. Big Ten Contenders: Ohio State – Going into the Big Ten Tournament the Ohio State Buckeyes are heating up at just the right... |
| MAC Tournament Preview by Great Lakes Sports Great Lakes Sports - 3/5/2010 12:28 AM Welcome to another exciting Conference Tournament this year. We here at Great Lakes Sports will give you of preview of the contenders in the MAC Conference Tournament, and Great Lakes Sports would like to wish you good luck this upcoming conference tournament season. MAC Tournament Preview: Kent State - The Kent State Golden Flashes are loaded with experience this year. With six seniors,... |
| Cleveland Indians Preview by Great Lakes Sports Great Lakes Sports - 3/3/2010 8:09 AM The boys of summer have returned to Goodyear Arizona the home of spring training for the Cleveland Indians. We here at Great Lakes Sports will give you a preview of what to expect this summer from the Cleveland Indians, and as always Good Luck from Great Lakes Sports. The Cleveland Indians will enter the season with a lot of question marks with all of the young guys they have trying to make an imp... |
| Final Run to the Big 10 Title Jim Feist - 3/1/2010 12:39 PM by Jim Feist Tournament play is on the horizon! It's the start of a wild few weeks with conference tournament play helping to whittle the field. In the Big 10, Ohio State made the title game three years with Greg Oden while Michigan State won it all in 2000. Here's a look at some of the top teams of the Big 10 looking to make a similar run. Purdue: The Boilermakers have been a streaky team... |
| No Payback Payday Tom Stryker - 2/26/2010 6:58 PM No Payback Payday - An Inside Look At Last Home Game Sets By Tom Stryker. College basketball teams refer to this contest as "senior night." It is the final home game of the regular season where athletes get one last chance to walk off their homecourt a winner. This is an emotional evening for both players and coaches. There are times when this event leads to a lackluster performance because of all... |
| Kentucky Seeks Revenge!! Rocketman Sports - 2/25/2010 9:31 AM Kentucky Seeks Revenge The Kentucky Wildcats will be looking to avenge their only loss of the entire season when they play host to South Carolina on Thursday night. As this is a classic revenge situation, odds makers have the proper adjustments by installing Kentucky as 16½ point home favorites over the Gamecocks. So... |
| Cleveland Cavaliers Recap From 2/18 to 2/21 by Great Lake Sports Great Lakes Sports - 2/23/2010 7:23 AM The Cleveland Cavaliers have lost three in a row for the first time in two years, as they are struggling on defense, giving up a whopping 112.3 points per game since the All Star Break. The Cavaliers made a block-buster trade right before the NBA trade deadline on Thursday, trading Zydrunas Ilgauskas. They bring in Antawn Jamison, who has a career scoring average of 19.9 points per game and haulin... |
| College Hoops: Best Pac 10 Teams Jim Feist - 2/22/2010 4:21 PM by Jim Feist It's been a mediocre year in Pac 10 in basketball, with the struggles of UCLA and a string of teams battling for the top spot. Here's a look at the strengths and weaknesses of some of college basketball's best teams in the Pacific 10. Cal: The Bears have used a strong home court edge and a dynamite backcourt to have strong season. The three-guard offense leads the team in... |
| Five toughest remaining NBA schedules Matt Fargo - 2/18/2010 3:30 PM The NBA regular season is winding down quickly. Matt Fargo takes a look at the remaining schedule of the 30 teams to see who could have a tough time down the stretch. Here are five teams he thinks have the toughest roads coming in. San Antonio Spurs Remaining road games: 19 Current Road Record: 11-11 The Spurs finished the pre-All-Star Break schedule with five straight road games. It... |
| College Hoops: Best of the SEC Jim Feist - 2/15/2010 1:26 PM by Jim Feist The SEC has a bunch of teams that are loaded with talent, depth and athleticism. Kentucky won the national championship in 1998, Florida knocked on the door in 2000 getting to the title game against Michigan State, the won it all with back-to-back titles. Here's a look at some of college basketball's best teams in the SEC. Kentucky: There's no vying for power between severa... |
| Vernon Croys 2010 NBA All Star Game Preview Vernon Croy - 2/14/2010 2:59 PM Every year, the NBA All Star game comes along and the basketball world stands still. They put aside the race for the playoffs, team affiliations, and just have a good time with the game of basketball. Anytime you put such a huge collection of the best players in the world in one place, there are bound to be some amazing things that happen. The East find themselves now favored by 2 points in this y... |
| College Hoops Takes Center Stage Jim Feist - 2/8/2010 1:52 PM by Jim Feist With the Super Bowl in the rear view mirror, the next big event on the sports stage is college basketball's season-ending tournaments. Since 1997, college basketball's national champion has come from several different conferences: the Pac 10 (Arizona), SEC (Kentucky and Florida), Big 10 (Michigan State), the ACC (Duke, Maryland, North Carolina), Nig 12 (Kansas) and the Big East... |
| Super Bowl Preview by Great Lakes Sports Great Lakes Sports - 2/2/2010 6:56 AM Welcome to another Super Bowl preview. We here at Great Lakes Sports will give you a little insight into both teams in what, we believe, could go down as one of the greatest Super Bowl games in history and as always, good luck this Super Bowl from Great Lakes Sports. The NFC Champion New Orleans Saints will make their first trip ever to a Super Bowl, where they meet the Indianapolis Colts... |
| Super Sunday! Jim Feist - 2/1/2010 1:09 PM by Jim Feist The top two seeds in both conferences have made it to the Super Bowl. That's not the norm, as it hasn't happened since 1993. The Colts are looking for their second Super Bowl title in four seasons while the Saints make their first trip to the big game. For those examining expert football picks, back in August the Colts were 8-to-1 to win the Super Bowl while the Saints were 18-to-... |
| Super Bowl Countdown! Jim Feist - 1/25/2010 1:49 PM by Jim Feist In the world of eleven to ten, there's nothing quite like Super Bowl week. In this case, it's two weeks, as the teams have two weeks to prepare for the Big Game. It's also one of the most creative weeks of the sports betting season. While there's only one game left on the football calendar, there are still ample opportunities for betting with hundreds of creative props by various... |
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