Blazers limp home to face Kings

Basketball Betting Lines

01/23/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Trail Blazers are coming off a rough road trip but at least they have the Sacramento Kings next on the docket. The two Western Conference inhabitants will clash tonight in Rip City.

Portland defeated the Kings earlier this season by a convincing 101-79 score at home on Dec. 27 and has won 10 of the last 11 meetings between the teams. The Blazers are 10-5 in the previous 15 matchups as the host in this series.

The Trail Blazers went 2-4 on a recent six-game road trip and dropped a 94-91 decision to the lowly Detroit Pistons on Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills. LaMarcus Aldridge posted 25 points and Raymond Felton chipped in 20 points and nine assists for the Blazers, who shot 42 percent for the game and got 14 points from Nicolas Batum in his first start of the year. Aldridge had 33 points and a career-high 23 rebounds in Friday's win at Toronto.

"You can't flip a switch in this league and I thought we tried to flip a switch against these guys tonight and that's not going to work," Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. "You have to come in being ready to play. I didn't think that offensively we worked to establish ourselves inside."

The Blazers will also welcome Memphis to town and are 6-1 at the Rose Garden this season. Aldridge has scored 20-plus points in seven straight games and has reached double digits in scoring in every game this season. Blazers forward Gerald Wallace did not play against the Pistons because of a hand injury and is questionable for tonight.

Sacramento will close out a three-game road trip tonight and has lost four of its last six games. It fell to 1-1 on the swing following Saturday's 128-95 loss at Memphis, as Jimmer Fredette led the team with a season-high 20 points and DeMarcus Cousins recorded 19 points and 11 rebounds. Cousins has recorded double-doubles in eight of the last 10 games, including the last three.

Donte Green scored 19 points and Tyreke Evans netted 13 for the Kings, who had a two-game winning streak stopped and fell to 2-8 away from California's capital this season. The Kings are 1-9 when Evans doesn't score over 20 points and 5-2 when he does eclipse that particular mark.

"I thought our guys tried to play all the way through but didn't have the necessary energy or manpower that we had last night in San Antonio," Kings head coach Keith Smart said.

The Kings will return home after tonight's bout in Portland to host Denver and could be without guards John Salmons (illness) and Marcus Thornton (thigh) tonight in the Rose City. Both scorers are listed as questionable.

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The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

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