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Dallas at Cleveland (800 PM EDT – ESPN)

ESPN’s NBA coverage for 07-08 opens up with a dandy of a contest Halloween night in Cleveland between championship contenders. The road Mavericks, off a 67-15 season, open up as a 4-point favorite again the host Cavaliers. The total is set at 186.

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The Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland Cavaliers go into the season with championship aspirations. Both teams have given doubters good reason to be skeptical. One team was a big disappointment by not coming close to making the NBA finals, and the one that did may have only gotten worse.

On Wednesday, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks begin a regular season during which their title hopes will remain in question regardless of how well they perform, facing LeBron James and a Cavaliers squad which failed to improve during the offseason.

The reigning league MVP Nowitzki is still frustrated by Dallas stunning first-round playoff loss to Golden State after having one of the best regular seasons in NBA history at 67-15. That record included three double-digit winning streaks - no team had ever done that - but it also may have caused the Mavericks to lose momentum or focus because they wrapped up the best record well before the playoffs began.

So whatever kind of win streaks or records Dallas achieves this season, questions will persist as to whether the team can carry that kind of play into the postseason. The Mavericks also closed the 2006 NBA finals by losing four straight to Miami.

The Cavaliers hold out the same kind of hope after their run to the NBA finals last year in James fourth season. Still just 22 years old, James had a busy offseason - he hosted Saturday Night Live and helped the U.S. win gold at the FIBA Americas tournament - but has gotten back to the business of pursuing a championship. He just wishes team management did the same.

Cleveland made no major acquisitions after being overmatched by San Antonio in a finals sweep, and two key members from that Eastern Conference title team - Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic - are still missing. Varejao and Pavlovic remain overseas even with Cavaliers training camp complete. Both are holding out for better contracts and Clevelands front office isn budging, and it appears both players are prepared to sit out the season.

Varejao averaged 6.8 points and 6.7 rebounds off the bench, but his biggest contributions came with his energy and defensive prowess. Pavlovic added 9.0 points per game and was one of Clevelands best outside shooters, having made 40.5 percent from 3-point range.

James, picked in a recent poll of the leagues general managers to supplant Nowitzki as MVP, joined Oscar Robertson last season as the only players to average at least 27.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists in three straight years.

Dallas still has plenty of capable scorers with Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse among others, and the roster hasn changed much besides the additions of veteran Eddie Jones and second-round pick Nick Fazekas.

While Dallas overcame an 0-4 start last season, Cleveland opened 7-2 en route to its second straight 50-win campaign and never went through a losing streak of more than three games until the finals.

Dallas swept the two-game series with Cleveland last season despite James averaging 35.0 points, and has lost only two of the last 13 meetings.



NFL Betting News & Notes
As the hype commences in earnest for the true NFL Game of the Century, I wonder what was happened to Bill Belichick. If Belichick doesn’t care what a Hall of Fame coach like Joe Gibbs thinks in running up the score on his team, he’s not going to care what I or anyone else thinks. Still I question the motives of a man who gives the appearance he is now bigger then the game.

Being caught spying with cameras only confirmed what many others either knew or believed for the last several years about a Belichick coached team. Since being punished, Bill the Bully has made a point to go out of his way to not only defeat opponents but embarrass them. His obsession with perfection is well known and for someone to be that intent on seeking such high levels of performance can not be faulted. What seems clear, Bruising Bill is bitter and he wants to teach the world a lesson.

The argument of running up the score has different perspectives. When Bobby Bowden and Lou Holtz were a couple of young head coaches working there way up, Bowden had a superior team to Holtz’s and delivered a Chris Fowler “woodshed” job. The two coaches knew each other as they were moving up the ranks and Holtz was slightly chafed and asked Bowden why he didn’t call off the dogs so to speak. Bowden’s answer was something like this, “It’s not my job to help you get better players that can compete with mine, that’s your job.” Holtz said it was a lesson he never forgot. Another that comes to mind is former Hall of Fame quarterback John Brodie used to be the lead analyst for NBC for the AFC contests and was asked be legendary broadcaster Curt Gowdy about Kansas City running up the score at home against the Oakland Raiders when they were at the pinnacle of there success. Brodie responded “You know Curt; the Chiefs should score all the points they want and have a good time. The only thing they should remember, there is always another game, and do what you have to do.”

What’s really odd about New England’s behavior is it seems so contrarian to owner Robert Kraft public perception. Kraft has an every man quality about him and wants to win in what he has cultivate as the right way. He has never come across as a marauder. New England awesome display this season has finally got the oddsmakers attention, bleeding money from the public incessantly pounding the Pats. For years I wondered how despite winning three Super Bowls this decade, most Patriots games have not had the appearance of being weighted heavily. Think about it, the Yankees, Red Sox, and San Antonio Spurs all are shaded towards public perception, decreasing value. I asked John Salerno from LeRoy’s Sportsbook in Las Vegas (63 Nevada outlets), about why until this season New England seemed to lack the panache other public teams have had. “Over the last several seasons, the Patriots have not been wagered on significantly more than other NFL teams. That has changed this season with how they continue to cover spreads.”


One last point on Belichick. He has been around football long enough and knows what he has in terms of talent. If by chance his Patriots were to go undefeated and win the Super Bowl, wouldn’t the legacy of a gracious winner make more sense, as he seems driven to be known as the greatest coach of all-time? New England sadly seems to have gone the route of out of control corporate leaders who believe they are so powerful they are above the rules that govern them.As Steve Young said on Monday Night Countdown, "This is the best team (New England) I have seen in over 10 years, do it with a little class."

It’s a good thing Chicago discovered quarterback Rex Grossman was taking them down and giving the Bears the best chance to win. All those bad passes he was throwing into tight coverage and being intercepted really worked to the detriment of the team. Thank goodness Bears fans got what they wanted Brian Griese. Isn’t it hilarious how players today just throw just throw out “guaranteed win” and lose games.

At last count St. Louis was up to three by my accounting, with the end result less than desirable. This used to mean something when an athlete would say something like this, these days it is taken with the same seriousness as most anything Jesse Jackson has to offer.

It’s time for Carolina and Tampa Bay to officially become nervous as New Orleans Saints are marching towards first place in the NFC South. Drew Brees is like Austin Powers, he’s found his Mojo (in a manner of speaking) and the Saints offense is clicking again. Reggie Bush might not last 12 years as an every down back, yet you have to be impressed with his toughness as a runner. He unquestionably has led to the Saints confidence turnaround.

Tasty Tidbits – Last week introduced yards per point statistic that was winning against the spread at a remarkable clip. The top five Play On teams held steady and are wallet stuffing 28-9, 75.6 percent and can be found under NFL banner line at Team Statistics page. The Play Against are nearly as good, with powerful 23-11, 67.6 percent record….Here is a system to watch for the rest of the season that has a proven track record. Play On home teams with a winning percentage of 25% or less after failing to cover the spread in 4 or 5 out of their last 6 games, playing a team with a winning record. This system is a rock solid 16-4, 80 percent as this time over the last five NFL seasons and will have several opportunities with good to better then average teams not taking terrible clubs seriously…. All NFL teams off a road dog win have fallen to 6-9-1, 40 percent against the spread in next game including 1-6 the last five weeks….As all teams work diligently to force turnovers, in 2007 creating too many has been a bad thing the next week. Of the teams that have forced five or more turnovers in a game, only one has covered against the number is next trip to the gridiron (1-5-1 ATS).


by Basketball