Spurs, Knicks square off in Alamo City

Basketball Betting Lines

03/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs will have to continue their playoff push tonight against the New York Knicks without star guard Tony Parker.

The team did receive some good news on Monday, however, when it was learned that Parker won't need surgery for a broken bone in his right hand. An examination of the All-Star confirmed an initial diagnosis of a non-displaced stable fracture of the right fourth metacarpal and Parker is still expected to be sidelined for about six weeks, which likely means he will not return until the postseason.

Parker, the Spurs' second-leading scorer this season at 16.5 points per game, originally suffered the injury late in the first half of last Saturday's 102-92 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Without him, San Antonio fell in Cleveland on Monday when Mo Williams had 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, as the Cavaliers edged the Spurs, 97-95, despite playing without LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal.

Manu Ginobili had a huge night for the Spurs, sinking seven three-pointers on his way to 38 points. He appeared to hit a game-tying three with 14.2 seconds left, but it was ruled a two-pointer after review.

George Hill added 23 points for San Antonio, which had its four-game win streak broken.

"We had a great opportunity, not many teams can come in here and win," Ginobili said. "LeBron wasn't playing, Shaq wasn't there [because of thumb surgery] and [Antawn] Jamison didn't play the second half, so we blew a big one, so we are kind of upset with that."

The Spurs currently sit in seventh place in the Western Conference playoff race, a still comfortable 4 1/2 games ahead of ninth-place Memphis.

The Knicks, meanwhile, are playing out the string but are coming off an exciting 99-98 win over playoff-bound Atlanta on Monday. Danilo Gallinari made four three-pointers and finished with a game-high 27 points in that one, as New York escaped with the victory at Madison Square Garden.

David Lee contributed a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while Al Harrington went for 14 points off the bench for the Knicks, who were able to recover from a 113-93 loss to New Jersey on Saturday.

"I thought our team the whole game did a good job competing on the boards, did a good job competing for loose balls," Lee said. "We did a good job overall."

New York, which had lost four of its last five coming into the contest, made 10-of-15 three-pointers after setting an NBA record by going 0-for-18 from three-point range in the setback to the Nets.

The Spurs have won eight of their past nine meetings with the Knicks, including a 95-88 win in New York earlier this season. San Antonio has also won six straight over the Knicks in the Alamo City.

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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

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