Telfair leads Timberwolves past Heat

Basketball Betting Lines

02/18/2009 - Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sebastian Telfair made six of Minnesota's 14 three-pointers and finished with a career-high 30 points, as the Timberwolves topped the Miami Heat, 111-104.

Telfair went 6-for-10 from beyond the arc and Minnesota went 14-for-22 overall from long distance in the win, which snapped the Timberwolves' five-game losing streak.

Telfair also had eight assists, while Ryan Gomes added 20 points and seven boards, and Kevin Love ended with 16 points and nine rebounds for Minnesota, which outrebounded Miami 49-24.

"Sebastian was tremendous," Minnesota head coach Kevin McHale said. "The team found a way to hang in there. Miami made a run at us, and we turned around and made a run on them; that's going to happen in this league, especially on the road."

Dwyane Wade had 37 points and 12 assists, while Udonis Haslem added 17 points for the Heat, who lost in their return from the All-Star break. Miami center Jermaine O'Neal made his debut with the team after being acquired from Toronto over the break, along with forward Jamario Moon.

O'Neal ended with 13 points, but his introduction wasn't enough for the Heat to post their second consecutive win, as they beat Chicago on February 12. Miami hasn't won back-to-back games since a three-game streak from January 24-28.

"After our start, I don't think we impacted them defensively the entire game," Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. "They absolutely annihilated us on the backboard. One-on-one, pick-and-rolls, they were just breaking us down. Pretty much nothing schematic, throwing it up from three, and they were making them tonight."

In a close game over the final several minutes, the teams quickly escalated the score with a three-point barrage. Gomes and Telfair connected from long distance back-to-back for a 97-91 lead with just under four minutes remaining.

Miami countered with eight straight points, including a triple each from Daequan Cook and Mario Chalmers, whose three-pointer put the Heat on top 99-97.

But Randy Foye connected from beyond the arc and Telfair followed with his sixth trey of the game, giving the T-Wolves a 103-99 lead with 1 1/2 minutes remaining.

Wade brought Miami within a point with a three of his own, but after Foye missed a layup, Telfair stole the ball from Chalmers and drew a foul with 31.3 seconds left.

Telfair made both shots for a 105-102 Minnesota lead, and after Wade missed a three on the other end, Love grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He also made both shots to push the T-Wolves' lead to five, and Minnesota held on for the win over the final 22.8 seconds.

Miami used a nine-point run in the first quarter to take a 15-4 lead, and took a 31-20 advantage into the second. However, Minnesota had a nine-point run of its own in the second to get within 36-34, and trailed just 49-46 at halftime.

The Timberwolves took the lead near the end of the third quarter, ending the stanza with a Craig Smith layup and Brian Cardinal jumper to take an 82-73 lead heading into the fourth.

Minnesota maintained the lead at the final quarter's outset, going ahead 86-75 after a Craig free throw.

But Miami made up the difference with a 12-0 run, which Joel Anthony began with a pair of free throws. Wade ended the surge with a layup to put the Heat in front 87-86 with just over seven minutes left, and it was back-and-forth down the stretch.

Game Notes

Chalmers had 12 points for Miami...Foye added 14 for Minnesota, while Smith had 10...Miami's 24 rebounds were the club's second-lowest in one game all- time. The Heat had 23 on April 12, 1990 vs. Boston...Minnesota's record for three-pointers in one game is 15, accomplished on December 8, 2004 vs. Philadelphia...Timberwolves center Al Jefferson underwent successful surgery Wednesday to repair a torn ACL in his right knee. Jefferson suffered the injury in a February 8 game against New Orleans and will be sidelined indefinitely. In 50 games with Minnesota this year, the 6-foot-10 Jefferson posted 23.1 points per game and 11.0 rebounds per game.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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