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02/02/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls have been struggling with consistency lately and look to gain a measure of balance tonight in a showdown with the New York Knicks from Madison Square Garden.
The Bulls, who are in the midst of a nine-game road trip, have alternated wins and losses over their previous six games and are 1-2 so far on the trek following last night's 98-82 loss at Philadelphia in which reigning MVP Derrick Rose posted 18 points and sat out much of the fourth quarter. C.J. Watson netted a game-best 20 points, while Kyle Korver, Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson posted nine points apiece in defeat.
"They play hard. They play unselfishly. They don't make mistakes, so you need to be sharp," Chicago head coach Tom Thibodeau said of the Sixers.
Rose entered the game averaging 34.3 points in his previous three. Chicago gave up 29 points on 17 turnovers and dropped to 9-5 outside the United Center this season. It will also visit the Bucks, Nets, Hornets, Bobcats and Celtics on the trek, and owns a 1 1/2-game lead over Indiana for Central Division supremacy.
The Bulls were without forward Luol Deng (wrist) and guard Richard Hamilton (groin/thigh) last night. Both are questionable against the Knicks.
New York has been a disappointment this season as evidenced by its 8-13 record, but was able to hand Detroit a lopsided 113-86 loss the last time out on Tuesday at MSG. Carmelo Anthony scored 25 points in his return to the lineup and had missed two straight games because of a serious of bumps and bruises.
Landry Fields had 18 points and hit four three-pointers for the Knicks, who had lost three straight and nine of 10 coming in. They shot 60 percent on the night.
"The ball movement was great tonight," said Knicks center Tyson Chandler, who recorded 17 points and eight rebounds. "Our energy, our willingness to pass, we just found the open man and it became contagious."
Amare Stoudemire added 15 points for a New York team in the midst of playing two straight and four of five games at home. The Knicks are 4-6 as the host and will visit Boston before returning home to play the Nets and Jazz. They will play three straight games starting tonight for the first time since March 20-22, 1999.
New York and Chicago will play the first of four matchups this season, and the Knicks took two of three meetings a year ago.
<< Furman to visit Clemson, host five games in 2012
Greenville, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A visit to Clemson and a Homecoming game
against Georgia Southern highlight the 2012 Furman football schedule announced
on Thursday.
Furman will play at Clemson on Sept. 15. The Paladins are Clemson's oldest
<< Bruins try to solve visiting Hurricanes
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Try as they may, the Boston Bruins haven't been able to
solve the Carolina Hurricanes this season. They'll get one more chance tonight
as the two teams clash in Boston.
The Bruins and Hurricanes sit at opposite ends of the
<< Improved Clippers aim for another win over Nuggets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Clippers seem to grow more imposing by the
day and will aim get the best of Denver for the second time in less than a
week when the two teams square off at Staples Center.
The Pacific Division-leading Clips
<< Blazers visit reeling Kings
(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
Red-hot Preds visit Flyers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The streaking Nashville Predators should feel pretty good
about their matchup tonight with the Philadelphia Flyers, especially if the
game goes into a shootout.
The Predators aim to win six straight for the first time this
St. Louis, Bolts try to stay hot vs. Jets >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With Martin St. Louis heating up to serve as a scoring
compliment to Steven Stamkos, the Lightning seem poised to make a run at a
playoff spot.
Tampa Bay continues that quest tonight and looks to reestablish its dominance
Western Conference powerhouses collide in Vancouver >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top two seeds in the Western Conference will collide
tonight in British Columbia, as the Vancouver Canucks welcome the Detroit Red
Wings for a battle at Rogers Arena.
The Red Wings are tied with the New York Rangers fo
Baffert holds the aces in Robert B. Lewis >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Not only does Bob Baffert have the favorite in this
Saturday's Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita, but the silver-haired trainer also
has what could be the future Kentucky Derby champion entered in the Grade II
event.
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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