Stoudemire deals with tragedy as Knicks host Jazz
Basketball Betting Lines
02/06/2012 -
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Utah Jazz haven't fared so well lately in the Big Apple
and hope to reverse those fortunes tonight against a shorthanded New York Knicks team at historic Madison Square Garden.
Amare Stoudemire will miss tonight's game as he deals with a tragedy.
According to Florida Highway Patrol, the brother of the Knicks star died in a
car accident early Monday morning and Stoudemire is traveling to Florida to be
with his family.
Losers in six of seven trips to the Empire State, the Jazz split a home-and-
home set with the Knicks last season and have won four of the last five
matchups in this series. Tonight's contest will be the lone meeting between
Knicks and Jazz this season.
Utah will play two straight and five of its next six games on the road and has
dropped two in a row away from Salt Lake City. It is 2-5 as the guest this
season -- a major dropoff from an 11-4 record at home. The Jazz ended a two-
game slide and won for the third time in five tries with Saturday's 96-87
victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers. Al Jefferson scored 18 points
and Paul Millsap added 16, with both players grabbing 13 boards for the Jazz,
who got 12 points from both Josh Howard and Derrick Favors.
Jazz reserve guard Earl Watson posted eight points and 11 assists and showed
no ill effects of a sprained left ankle that kept him out of Thursday's loss
at Golden State.
"Earl Watson isn't even supposed to be playing right now, that's the crazy
thing about it," Millsap said. "He's out there on one leg, having an amazing
game for us. He's big for us."
The Jazz hope to improve on their 4-1 record against the East tonight.
New York is only 1-7 against teams from the Western Conference and looks to
build on that with a loaded home schedule over the next few games.
The Knicks are in the midst of playing 10 of 14 games at MSG and are coming
off of Saturday's 99-92 triumph over New Jersey courtesy of a surprise
performance from second-year guard Jeremy Lin. The Harvard product scored a
career-high 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting and also collected seven assists
and five rebounds. New York had dropped 11 of 13 games before edging the Nets.
"It's one game, so don't get too excited," said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni.
"But it was something we needed."
Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler scored 17 points apiece, while Carmelo Anthony
had just 11 points on 3-of-15 shooting for the Knicks, who are 5-7 at home
this season and pushed their overall record to 9-15. Anthony had scored
25 or more points in each of the three previous games.
Landry Fields had just six points in Saturday's win, but is averaging 12.9
points in his last 11 games.
<< Hawks hope to get healthy vs. Suns
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Known to be a formidable foe on their own court, the
Atlanta Hawks have stumbled a bit during a four-game homestand and look to
restore order at Philips Arena tonight versus the Phoenix Suns.
The Hawks have lost the first
<< Bulls continue lengthy road trip vs. Nets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls are in the midst of a nine-game road trip
and will continue the lengthy trek tonight against the New Jersey Nets.
Chicago improved to 3-2 thus far on the road swing following Saturday's 113-90
victory at
<< Kobe leads Lakers into Philadelphia
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The superstars keep rolling into South Philly and Los
Angeles Lakers stud Kobe Bryant is next on the A-list when he leads his team
against the 76ers tonight from Wells Fargo Center.
Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, LeBron Jame
<< Clippers resume road trip in Orlando
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A possible trade destination for Dwight Howard is Los
Angeles with the revamped Clippers. For now, however, Howard is still property
of the Orlando Magic, who will open a three-game homestand tonight versus
the Clippers at Am
<< Pachuca erases three-goal deficit to stun Toluca
Toluca, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mauro Cejas converted a penalty kick in the
90th minute as Pachuca rallied from three goals behind to stun Toluca, 4-3, on
Sunday in Mexico's Clausura.
Toluca built a three-goal lead after 17 minutes on an
Raptors seek another win over Wizards >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards meet for the
second time in four nights this evening, as the two teams do battle at the
Verizon Center this evening.
These two bottom feeders met on Friday in Toronto and Leandro
Stoudemire to miss Monday's game after death of brother >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire will
miss Monday's home game against Utah after the death of his brother.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Stoudemire family for their loss," the
Knicks said on
O's deal Guthrie to Rox for Hammel and Lindstrom >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles have traded pitcher
Jeremy Guthrie to the Colorado Rockies in exchange for pitchers Jason Hammel
and Matt Lindstrom.
Guthrie was Baltimore's opening day starter in 2011 and pos
Lisicki withdraws from Paris event >>
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth seed Sabine Lisicki pulled out of this
week's WTA event in Paris, citing a viral illness.
Estonian Kaia Kanepi also pulled out of the Open GDF Suez tournament due to a
right shoulder injury. She title
Frimpong out for season with knee injury >>
Wolverhampton, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - On-loan Wolverhampton midfielder
Emmanuel Frimpong will miss the rest of the season after he sustained a
ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
The injury occurred in the
Big East Conference odds
Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence
Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.
Work left to do:
Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.
Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.
DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...
West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.
Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.
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