Nets and Pistons finish home-and-home set
Basketball Betting Lines
02/10/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-year center Greg Monroe is starting to heat up for a Detroit Pistons team riding a season-high three-game winning streak and is aiming for his fourth straight double-double tonight versus the New Jersey Nets in the back end of a home-and-home series at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Monroe led the Pistons to a 99-92 victory at New Jersey on Wednesday and provided 20 points and 12 rebounds. Monroe has recorded a double-double in eight of his last nine games (14 total) and is averaging 20.8 points and 11.8 boards in his previous four contests.
"We're giving maximum efforts for 48 minutes, we're playing together, everybody's on the same page offensively and defensively," Monroe said of Detroit's recent success.
The former Georgetown star is one of only five players averaging 3.9 or more offensive rebounds per game and is tied for second in the NBA in total offensive rebounds with 104. Jonas Jerebko scored 16 points to go with seven rebounds, while Tayshaun Prince finished with 15 points and five assists for Detroit, which snapped a seven-game road losing streak and is aiming for its first four-game winning streak since a prevailing in five straight games from Dec. 4-12, 2009.
The Pistons are kicking off a three-game homestand tonight versus the Nets, Wizards and Spurs, and are 5-8 at The Palace this season. In injury news for Detroit, guard Will Bynum is questionable for Friday's game versus the Nets with a strained right foot. Bynum missed his 15th straight game on Wednesday and fellow guard Ben Gordon scored 14 points off the bench in New Jersey after missing the previous 10 games with a sore left shoulder.
New Jersey has lost four straight and six of seven games, and almost sent Detroit packing with a loss the last time out. Star point guard Deron Williams poured in a game-high 34 points on 10-of-21 shooting, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out four assists. He is averaging 26.3 points in his past nine games for the Nets, who suffered their third loss in a row at home and were outscored by a 31-19 margin in the second quarter.
"That second quarter was really lopsided and that's where they got their confidence," said Williams, was named a reserve on the East's All-Star team.
Jordan Farmar scored 22 points in a reserve role and Kris Humphries posted nine points and 16 rebounds in defeat. New Jersey shot 42.3 percent compared to Detroit's 53.4 percent clip. Keith Bogans had three points before suffering a left ankle injury in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. Bogans is expected to undergo surgery and miss the remainder of the 2011-12 season.
Injuries are nothing new to the Nets this season since they're already without center Brook Lopez (foot), forward Damion James (foot), forward DeShawn Stevenson (knee), guard MarShon Brooks (toe) and center Mehmet Okur (back). Center Shelden Williams is the only Nets player to have appeared in all 27 of their games this season. He has made 10 starts.
The 2011-12 season series between the Nets and Pistons is tied at a game apiece, but Detroit is 14-6 in the past 20 matchups in the series. New Jersey has dropped nine in a row and 28 of its last 31 contests at The Palace. It hasn't won on the road in this series since a 79-74 victory on March 26, 2006.
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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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