Blake dishes out 14 first-quarter assists, Blazers destroy Clippers

Basketball Betting Lines

02/22/2009 - Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LaMarcus Aldridge tallied a season-high 28 points and 10 rebounds, and Steve Blake tied an NBA record with 14 first- quarter assists to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to their eighth consecutive home win with a 116-87 shellacking of the Los Angeles Clippers.

San Antonio's John Lucas also had 14 assists in the second quarter of an April 15, 1984 game against Denver.

Blake ended with 17 assists and six points for the Blazers, who closed out a three-game homestand in perfect fashion to improve to 23-5 as the host. Brandon Roy chipped in 20 points, nine assists and eight boards in the win, while Travis Outlaw scored 15 points.

Nicolas Batum scored 10 points for Portland, which set a season-high with 38 assists on its 48 field goals. The club is now 1 1/2 games behind Denver for the lead in the Northwest standings as the Nuggets fell to Milwaukee, 120-117, earlier Sunday.

Eric Gordon scored 21 points to pace the Clippers, who have lost three straight contests. DeAndre Jordan and Baron Davis scored 15 points apiece, with Jordan adding 12 boards.

Aldridge poured in 18 points and Blake doled out 14 assists in the record- setting opening stanza to give the Blazers a 38-16 lead.

Blake's 14 helpers also set franchise records for most assists in a quarter and most in a half.

Rudy Fernandez' three-pointer and Roy's two free throws opened a 56-24 Blazers lead with 4:41 showing on the clock.

LA slightly trimmed its deficit to 65-39 heading into the break.

The Clippers never got within 20 points in the third quarter before falling behind 92-68 heading into the final frame. Outlaw scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to give the home team a 98-68 lead, and the Blazers cruised from there.

Game Notes

LA shot a measly 36.7 percent from the field while Portland hit 52.2 percent of its shots...The Blazers outrebounded the Clips, 56-38...Portland's 38 first-quarter points were a season-high for one period...The Clippers were without forward Zach Randolph. Randolph was suspended for two games after punching Phoenix' Louis Amundson on Tuesday...The Clippers are 7-22 as the guest in 2008-09...The 2008-09 season series has the Blazers up 2-1, but the Clippers have won eight of the last 14 meetings. LA, however, have lost 15 of 19 and 27 of their last 32 trips to the Rose City.

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NFL ODDSTop Football Betting Free Agents to Change Teams

NFL Betting

It’s time to see how the biggest NFL free agent signings will perform for their news teams. Some will work out and could be the difference that makes a difference in the win column.

We look at the best off-season signings and if they should influence your NFL betting this season. Julius Peppers – Peppers was the biggest prize available on the 2010 NFL free agent market and the Chicago Bears opened the bank to bring his talents to the south side.

Peppers is explosive, he can get around blockers and cause quarterbacks to lose their minds. We all remember the classic Peppers game last year against the Vikings where he hounded Brett Favre into his worst game of the season. Peppers joining the Bears could be the reason Favre retired for good Tuesday morning. In addition to Peppers, the Bears added Chester Taylor to back up Matt Forte, Forte didn’t have the same intensity in 2009 compared to 2008 and bringing in Taylor will challenge Forte to bring it every game or he’ll risk losing carries to Taylor.

Betting on the Bears is a good option this season because of Julius Peppers and to a lesser extent Taylor. Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens – The Cincinnati Bengals signed two former number one wide receivers to line up with Chad Ocho Cinco. Antonio Bryant had a huge season in 2008 catching 83 passes for over 1200 yards but regressed last season. Playing for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season was a large part of the regression, everyone was bad in TB last season.

Bryant should have a bounce back season if he can win the number two spot from Terrell Owens. If Bryant wins the number 2 WR spot, it will open up a completely new set of problems for the Bengals. If Owens is forced to the bench in favor of Bryant, his attitude will create trouble for Carson Palmer and head coach Marv Lewis. If Owens is the number two receiver, it means Bryant can’t live up to his past numbers and the Bengals are still limited in the passing game. NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. 2010 football betting lines for this can be found at this top online sportsbook. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense.

NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense. They signed away the Arizona Cardinals top linebacker Karlos Danby. In the past two seasons, Danby has totaled 228 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. The Dolphins are the forgotten team of the AFC East with the second longest odds to win the division but with the addition of Karlos Danby and a trade for WR Brandon Marshall makes the Miami Dolphins legitimate contenders in the AFC East and in the NFL’s Eastern Conference.

The Dolphins will make NFL wagering fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.

NFL Wagering

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