Bulls open homestand against Kings

Basketball Betting Lines

02/14/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Back home after a successful and lengthy road trip, the Central Division-leading Chicago Bulls are scheduled to play their next six games on familiar territory and will host the Sacramento Kings tonight.

The Bulls own an Eastern Conference-best 23-7 record -- the fourth-best start in franchise history -- and went 6-3 on the nine-game road trip which was culminated by a 95-91 loss in Boston on Sunday. Celtics guard Rajon Rondo posted a triple-double with 32 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds, while the Bulls were led by 22 points from both Carlos Boozer and C.J. Watson. Watson filled in for an injured Derrick Rose for a second straight game and is averaging 15.6 points and 6.4 assists in five starts this season.

"Our energy wasn't there tonight," Rose said after the loss. "We didn't pick up our energy to the full court."

Rose has missed back-to-back games with an ailing lower back and the team is 5-2 without him in the lineup this season. An MRI revealed no structural damage and the reigning MVP is listed as day-to-day for a Chicago team that had a five-game winning streak stopped in Boston. Rose has also missed time this season because of a toe injury and is averaging 22.0 points, 7.8 assists and 3.4 rebounds in 23 games.

Joakim Noah tallied 16 points and nine rebounds for Chicago, which will also welcome the Celtics, Nets, Hawks, Bucks and Hornets to the United Center on the upcoming homestand and is 9-1 as the host. Dating back to last season, the Bulls are 45-6 (.882) in the Second City. The Bulls have been perfect this season when scoring 100-plus points, going 11-0 when doing so.

Sacramento will head east to begin a six-game road trip tonight and is only 3-12 away from California's capital this season. It will also makes stops in New York, Detroit, Cleveland, Miami and Washington, and had won four of five games until dropping a 98-84 decision versus Phoenix on Saturday.

DeMarcus Cousins and Marcus Thornton scored 26 and 21 points, respectively, for the Kings, who made just 35.1 percent of their shots and also received nine rebounds out of Cousins.

"They play well as a team," Kings forward Chuck Hayes said about the Suns. "Everybody plays with their man, they play their strengths, nobody tries anything extra and they actually play really hard."

The Kings are currently bottom feeders in the Pacific Division. Cousins has recorded 17 double-doubles this season (third-most in the NBA), while Thornton is averaging 19.7 ppg in his previous six contests. Tyreke Evans scored four points versus Phoenix after averaging 21.4 ppg in the previous seven games.

The Kings lost to the Bulls by a 108-98 score back on Dec. 29 this season at home, as Rose dropped 19 points and dished out eight assists to lead his team to victory. Cousins finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds in that one for the Kings, losers in three straight and six of the past seven matchups in this series. Sacramento, however, is 8-4 in its past 12 trips to the Windy City.

Wwwchipshot Basketball Betting News

<< Rockets wrap up road trip in Memphis
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets will wrap up a six-game road trip tonight against the Southwest Division-rival Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum. The Rockets are 3-2 on the journey and suffered a 106-97 loss at Golden State the last ti

<< Spurs resume lengthy trek vs. Pistons
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs are starting to pick up their game on the road and will resume a nine-game Rodeo Road Trip tonight against the lowly Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Spurs have won seven in a row ov

<< Heat finish hectic stretch in Indy
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Heat try to continue one of their best starts in team history this evening when they visit the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Miami kept rolling on Monday, as LeBron James scored 35 points to lead the

<< Hornets' Gordon sidelined six weeks after surgery
New Orleans, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New Orleans Hornets guard Eric Gordon is expected to be sidelined for six weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on Tuesday. The Hornets said the procedure was performed "to clean up his r

<< Anderson passes first-round test in San Jose
San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth-seeded Kevin Anderson outlasted Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3) in first-round action at the SAP Open on Monday. Dimitrov cruised in the first set before losing a second-set t

Lin leads Knicks into Toronto >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Linsanity goes north of the border this evening when Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks shoot for a sixth straight win against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre. One night after netting a career-best 38 points

Jazz close out stretch in Oklahoma City >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah just might be a sitting duck when it finishes a grueling three games in three nights road stretch tonight in Oklahoma City. The Jazz lost to the Thunder, 101-87, in Salt Lake City last Friday and has played

Suns, Nuggets clash at Pepsi Center >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver halted one losing streak on the road in its last outing and will now try to stop its longest skid at home in nearly a decade when they play host to the Phoenix Suns. Ty Lawson scored 27 points on Saturday

Blazers try to halt home skid vs. Wizards >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers will try to halt a rare losing streak at the Rose Garden when they play host to a Washington Wizards team coming in off its second road victory. The Blazers had been a gaudy 11-1 in Rip Ci

Hawks commence trek against Lakers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta will kick off a five-game road trip tonight at Staples Center when they take on a Lakers team returning from its annual Grammy trek. The Hawks, who will also visit Phoenix, Portland, Chicago and New

FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.