Road-weary Hornets visit Nuggets

Basketball Betting Lines

03/18/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sole possession of second place in the Western Conference is on the line for the Denver Nuggets tonight as they get ready to host the reeking New Orleans Hornets.

Denver is currently deadlocked with idle Dallas for the No. 2 seed in the West, four games behind the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.

Most recently for the Nuggets, Carmelo Anthony scored 29 points and grabbed 12 rebounds on Tuesday, as Denver battled back to upend the Washington Wizards, 97-87, at the Pepsi Center.

The game marked the return of Nuggets head coach George Karl to the bench. Karl missed the team's four-game road trip over the past week as he continued chemotherapy and radiation treatments for neck and throat cancer. Denver was 3-1 on the trek under lead assistant Adrian Dantley.

"We know it's a tough task for him to go through," Anthony said of Karl's condition. "For him to come in and see us and uplift his spirits, it makes us feel good."

J.R. Smith added 17 points off the bench against the Wizards and Nene chipped in 16 for the Nuggets, winners in seven of their last eight overall.

Denver has been playing well despite the absence of two key contributors, starting power forward KenyonMmartin and rookie guard Ty Lawson. Martin has been sidelined since March 5 with a balky left knee and Lawson has been struggling with a bruised left shoulder. Both will remain on the sidelines tonight while big man Chris Andersen, who sprained his ankle in a loss at Houston on Monday, will be a game-time decision.

The Hornets, meanwhile, continue to falter, falling to 1-2 on a five-game road trip last night in Oakland. Anthony Tolliver registered a career-high 30 points in that one, as the Golden State Warriors rallied from down 21 late in the third quarter for a 131-121 triumph over New Orleans.

The Hornets were led by David West's 36 points and season-high 15 rebounds, while rookie Darren Collison added 20 points and 14 assists to help build a seemingly comfortable 87-66 lead with 5:36 to go in the third before dropping their fourth game in the last five.

New Orleans is a dismal 8-15 since losing All-Star point guard Chris Paul to a knee injury and is now an almost insurmountable eight games behind Portland for the final playoff spot in the West with just 13 left to be played.

Denver has topped New Orleans in two of the three contests between the two clubs this season, including a 116-110 overtime win in the Rockies on Jan. 23.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.