Grizzlies try to end skid vs. Hornets

Basketball Betting Lines

02/09/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Memphis Grizzlies will aim to close out a four-game homestand in positive fashion Monday when they attempt to snap a seven-game skid against the New Orleans Hornets.

The Grizzlies haven't beaten New Orleans since a 108-104 triumph in Memphis on February 13, 2007.

Most recently, the Grizz improved to 2-1 on their residency Saturday by taking a hard-fought defensive affair from the Toronto Raptors.

Rookie star O.J. Mayo had 16 points -- 12 coming in the fourth quarter -- and eight rebounds in that one to lead Memphis in a 78-70 victory over Toronto, sending the Raptors to their sixth consecutive defeat.

Hakim Warrick also added 16 points and eight boards for the Grizz, who have won three of four overall and improved to 11-18 as the host on the year. Mike Conley chipped in 15 points and eight assists in the win.

The Grizzlies played without Rudy Gay (strained hip flexor) against Toronto and the high-flying forward is questionable for tonight's contest. Two of Gay's teammates, forward Darrell Arthur (personal) and guard Kyle Lowry (sprained right ankle) will also be game-time decisions.

The banged-up Hornets, meanwhile, won their second straight game on Sunday in the Big Easy when Rasual Butler recorded 23 points and eight rebounds, leading New Orleans to a 101-97 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Sean Marks scored a career-high 18 points for the Hornets, who have won two straight despite playing without All-Star point guard Chris Paul, who remained out with a groin injury. Devin Brown had 14 points and Antonio Daniels provided 12 points in the win.

Peja Stojakovic had 11 points for New Orleans, which overcame the ejection of another All-Star, forward David West, who committed a flagrant foul type two late in the first half. West could face a suspension over the infraction.

Paul will remain on the sidelines tonight for the Hornets, as will starting center Tyson Chandler, who is out indefinitely with a sprained left ankle, and sharp-shooter Morris Peterson, who has a sprained left foot.

New Orleans, which is 12-10 on the road this year, has already topped the Grizzlies twice this season, including a 91-84 victory at FedEx Forum on December 16.

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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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