Cavs hope to clinch top seed in East vs. Sixers

Basketball Betting Lines

04/10/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland takes its quest for the NBA's best record to the City of Brotherly Love tonight as the Cavaliers visit the reeling Philadelphia 76ers.

The Cavs also hope to secure homecourt advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs with a triumph tonight or a Boston loss against the Miami Heat.

Most recently Cleveland improved to 63-15 this season and remained four games ahead of Boston for the top spot in the East with four games to play after a 98-86 win over the woeful Washington Wizards on Wednesday. Additionally, the Cavaliers hold a one-half game advantage over the Los Angeles Lakers (63-16) for the NBA's best record, although Phil Jackson's club holds the tiebreaker.

LeBron James finished with 21 points, seven assists and six rebounds against the Wizards.

Mo Williams added 14 points for Cleveland, which improved to 38-1 at Quicken Loans Arena this season, setting a franchise record for home wins. The Cavaliers lost their only game as the host on February 8 against the Lakers, and have since won 15 in a row at home.

Delonte West had 13 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas ended with 13 rebounds and seven points in the win, the Cavaliers' second in a row. Cleveland also saw the return of center Ben Wallace, who hadn't played since February 26 because of a fractured right fibula and finished with seven points.

The Sixers, meanwhile, find themselves mired in an inopportune slump and lost their third straight game in Chicago on Thursday when Tyrus Thomas and Ben Gordon each scored 24 points as the Bulls inched closer to a playoff berth with a 113-99 victory over Philadelphia.

Andre Miller led the Sixers with 20 points, Andre Iguodala added 19 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds and Lou Williams gave instant offense off the bench with 16 points. The Sixers have already made the playoffs but have lost three straight and five of eight overall.

Philadelphia trails fifth-place Miami by one game in the East, and lead seventh-place Chicago by 1 1/2 and eighth-place Detroit by two.

Cleveland has taken four straight games over the Sixers, including a pair this season.

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Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year

Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds.

Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month.

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Adam Morrison, of the Charlotte Bobcats, was the favorite early on in the season after averaging 15+ PPG through the first month of the season. Ever since his torrid start, Morrison’s point production has declined each month. This really isn’t surprising, considering at 6’8” he only weighs 205 lbs. Obviously he will need to hit the weights big time during the off-season in order to keep from breaking down in the future.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.