Red-hot Heat hold off Hawks
Basketball Betting Lines
03/22/2007 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Williams scored 21 points and dished out eight assists to lead the Miami Heat over the Atlanta Hawks, 91-83, at Philips Arena.
Williams hit a key jumper and a pair of free throws down the stretch for the Heat, who nearly blew a double-digit fourth-quarter lead but managed to hold on for their 10th win in 11 outings.
Eddie Jones added 14 points and Shaquille O'Neal had 12 points, six assists and just three rebounds for Miami, which for the time being pulled into a first-place tie with Washington for the top spot in the Southeast Division. The Wizards play in Seattle on Wednesday night.
Josh Smith scored 27 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots for the Hawks, who have lost three of four. Marvin Williams added 16 points and 12 rebounds for Atlanta, which had a five-game home win streak halted.
Ahead by just three points, 49-46, early in the third quarter, the Heat scored eight straight points to start an 11-2 run that put the team in control. Udonis Haslem scored four points during the surge, which Jason Williams capped with a three-pointer for a 60-48 lead with five minutes left in the stanza.
Miami later led by as many as 15 points, 67-52, following a free throw by Antoine Walker and cruised into the fourth quarter with a 69-59 lead.
Atlanta made it interesting down the stretch, using a 14-4 run to draw within 83-80. A pair of free throws by Josh Childress with 1:17 left capped the surge, which saw Smith score six points.
Williams, though, answered for the Heat next time down the floor, draining a jumper over Childress with 1:03 left to extend the lead to five points. Jones then stole the ball from Marvin Williams under the basket on the other end of the floor and Jason Williams converted a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left to ice the game.
Jason Williams hit 7-of-14 shots from the floor, including 3-of-6 from three, as Miami shot 50 percent for the game (36-of-72). O'Neal tried only eight shots from the floor for the game.
The Heat led 24-22 after one quarter and extended to a 47-36 lead at halftime thanks to a 14-point second quarter by the Hawks. Atlanta, though, responded to open the third, scoring 10 of the first 12 points to draw within three points.
Game Notes
Miami center Alonzo Mourning missed the game with a right knee contusion...Miami has won all three meetings against the Hawks this season...The Heat improved to 14-19 on the road...Atlanta fell to 15-19 at home.
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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.