Graham, O'Neal lead Raptors past Timberwolves

Basketball Betting Lines

02/10/2009 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joey Graham posted 24 points and Jermaine O'Neal added 22 points and eight rebounds, as the Toronto Raptors snapped a six-game losing streak with a 110-102 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Both teams were without their marquee players, as Toronto's Chris Bosh missed his third straight game with a sprained right knee, and Minnesota played its first of many games without forward/center Al Jefferson, who tore the ACL in his right knee in Sunday's game against New Orleans and will miss the remainder of the season.

Andrea Bargnani and Jason Kapono deposited 18 points apiece, while Jamario Moon and Jose Calderon each scored 11 in the Raptors' ninth straight win over Minnesota.

Randy Foye logged a game-high 33 points to lead the T-Wolves, while Kevin Love compiled 15 points and 11 rebounds in the club's seventh loss in eight games.

Kapono's four-point play to open the fourth quarter got the Raptors offense flowing, as a 12-2 run midway through the frame had the visitors ahead 98-91.

The margin was six points in favor of Toronto after two free throws with 1 1/2 minutes left by Foye, who missed a layup in transition on the ensuing possession that could have cut the deficit even further.

O'Neal got in the lane at the other end and put in a basket, and Calderon's four free throws in the final 30 seconds polished off the Raptors victory.

Toronto jumped out to a 23-16 lead after the first, though Minnesota climbed back to lead 48-41 at the break.

The teams played virtually even in the third, which ended with the T-Wolves up 80-73.

Game Notes

Bosh was ruled out of the All-Star game this weekend and was replaced on the roster by Cleveland guard Mo Williams on Tuesday...Timberwolves guard Rashad McCants missed the game because of illness...Calderon had nine assists, while Moon pulled down a team-high nine boards...Ryan Gomes scored 17 points for the Wolves, who got 12 apiece from Rodney Carney and Mike Miller.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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