Hawks' Johnson gets late reward

Basketball Betting Lines

02/16/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hope Joe Johnson has a good travel agent, because it must have been tough making those last-minute switches for this weekend.

It came very late, but Johnson was finally rewarded for his stellar season on Wednesday when he was selected as an injury replacement for the Eastern Conference squad.

Johnson, who will appear in his first All-Star game, takes the place of the injured Jason Kidd of the Nets for this Sunday's game. Kidd will skip the contest because of a back injury.

The 25-year-old guard is the Hawks' first All-Star since Shareef Abdur-Rahim in 2002.

Johnson, in his sixth season, is netting a team-best 25.2 points per game in 48 contests, good for 10th in the league. He is also tied for sixth in the NBA in field goals made per game at 9.4 per tilt.

Atlanta now heads into the break with a 21-31 mark, but as winners in two of its last three before the All-Star Game. Johnson averaged 20.7 points per game in that span, including 27 points in a 96-93 win over the LA Clippers on Wednesday.

The Hawks have lived and died by Johnson's offense this season. He has scored 25-plus points in 30 of his 48 games this year, and has led the team in scoring 36 times. In addition, the Hawks are 11-5 when Johnson scores 30 or more points.

The Hawks will resume their season on Tuesday against Chicago on the road, where it is 12-16. The club will then open a three-game homestand Wednesday against San Antonio.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines .
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