Knicks and Celtics renew rivalry at TD Garden

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02/03/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carmelo Anthony has battled with injuries and losing streaks since helping the New York Knicks defeat the Boston Celtics in a much- anticipated matchup on Christmas Day at Madison Square Garden.

Anthony scored 17 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter for a New York squad which blew an early 17-point lead and managed to squeeze out a 106-104 triumph in the season opener for both clubs. 'Melo and the Knicks will take their swings at the Celtics again tonight, only this time they will head north to TD Garden, where New York has dropped its last nine games.

The Knicks haven't won in Beantown since a 101-77 victory back on Nov. 24, 2006 and are just 2-12 in the past 14 matchups at Boston. The Celtics had a healthy Rajon Rondo in the first meeting with New York on Dec. 25, as the speedy point guard registered 31 points, 13 assists and five rebounds. Rondo, however, is out indefinitely with a right wrist injury and has missed the past eight games, with the Celtics going 6-2 in that span.

New York hasn't enjoyed much success lately, losing 10 of 12 games, including Thursday's 105-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls at MSG in the first of three games in as many days. Amare Stoudemire, who scored 21 points in the first encounter with Boston, racked up 34 and 11 rebounds versus the Bulls, while Anthony pumped in 26 points and Landry Fields netted 17 in defeat.

"For the most part, we played extremely hard tonight," Anthony said on the team's website. "We've got to pat ourselves on the back for something. We can go and magnify the turnovers late in the second quarter; we still had a chance to win the basketball game."

The Knicks shot 48.9 percent for the game and are playing back-to-back-to-back games for the first time since Mar. 20-22, 1999, when they beat Boston and lost to both Toronto and Atlanta. The Knicks will host New Jersey on Saturday after their trip to Beantown and own a 4-7 mark as the guest this season.

As previously noted, the Celtics have won six of eight games without Rondo in the lineup and are 7-2 in their previous nine contests. They posted their second straight win with Wednesday's 100-64 decision over the Toronto Raptors, as Paul Pierce finished with 17 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Pierce explained somewhat how Boston has succeeded without its top floor general.

"We're just starting to play better and be more consistent at home," said Pierce, who is 60 points shy of tying Larry Bird (21,791) for second on the team's all-time scoring list. "When Rondo isn't in the game we've got to be more unselfish."

Ray Allen and Chris Wilcox both added 12 points for Boston, which opened a five-game homestand on a positive note and improved to 7-6 as the host. The Celtics led by as many as 40 points in the fourth quarter, shot 12-of-24 from beyond the three-point line and added 30 assists on 39 baskets.

Pierce missed the first three games of the season with a heel injury and didn't get a chance to face the Knicks on Christmas. In 47 career games against the Knicks, Pierce is averaging 22.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists. Pierce led the Celtics with a double-double effort in three games against New York last year, averaging 26.0 points and 10.0 rebounds.

The Celtics will also host the Grizzlies, Bobcats and Lakers on the residency.

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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

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The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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