Blazers visit reeling Kings

Basketball Betting Lines

02/02/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The reeling Sacramento Kings will attempt to halt a five- game losing streak when they entertain a Portland Trail Blazers club trying to figure out how to get it done away from Rip City.

The Kings were competitive in their last outing on Tuesday but came up short when Brandon Rush poured in 20 points off the bench, including 15 in the fourth quarter, as Golden State held off Sacramento late for a 93-90 victory at ORACLE Arena.

Tyreke Evans just missed a triple-double with 22 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists and DeMarcus Cousins added his sixth double-double in seven games scoring 21 points and pulling down 14 boards.

Jason Thompson also contributed a double-double with 13 points and 11 boards for the Kings, who are now a dismal 2-11 on the road. Sacramento is a more competitive 4-4 at Power Balance Pavilion.

"From an offensive standpoint, we shot a good percentage tonight for our team," said Kings coach Keith Smart. "It's a positive for us, overall, and unfortunate we didn't get the win."

The Blazers, meanwhile, have been excellent at the Rose Garden, improving to 10-1 on their home floor Wednesday with a 112-68 rout of the hapless Charlotte Bobcats. The road, however, has been a different story and Portland will try to improve on its 3-8 mark as the visitor tonight.

Jamal Crawford scored 24 points while ex-Bobcat Gerald Wallace netted 23 points against his former team last night.

"My teammates did a good job finding me," Crawford said. "It's never just the guy making the shots."

LaMarcus Aldridge added 22 points while Marcus Camby blocked five shots for the Blazers, who shot a gaudy 55 percent from the floor vs. Charlotte's 32.1 percent. Raymond Felton also had 11 points and dished seven assists.

"The defense was really good all night," Portland head coach Nate McMillan told the team's website.

On the injury front for the Blazers forward Nicolas Batum is expected to miss his second straight game with a bone bruise on his left knee.

Portland, which will be attempting to halt a three-game road losing streak tonight, has taken five straight against the Kings in Sacramento and 11 of 12 overall in the series.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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