11/20/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Allen Iverson and the Detroit Pistons will try to knock off another NBA giant when they visit the defending champion Boston Celtics tonight in a battle of Eastern Conference powerhouses.
The Pistons have won four of their last five games, including victories over the Lakers, Suns and Cavaliers. In Wednesday's 96-89 win versus Cleveland at The Palace, Iverson finished with 23 points, four steals and four assists to help end the Cavs' eight-game winning streak.
Rasheed Wallace scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for the Pistons, who will put their 5-2 road record on the line Thursday. Richard Hamilton chipped in 15 points and five assists in last night's win.
Boston, which eliminated the Pistons from the playoffs last year, has won two straight and eight of nine games. It improved to 10-2 this season with Tuesday's 110-101 triumph against the New York Knicks at TD Banknorth Garden, where Paul Pierce ended with 22 points and eight rebounds to lead the way.
Kendrick Perkins had 16 points while Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen both scored 15 points for the Celtics, who played without All-Star Kevin Garnett. Garnett sat out after being suspended one game for hitting Milwaukee's Andrew Bogut during a 102-97 overtime win on Saturday. Garnett is expected to return tonight.
The Celtics are 6-1 as the host this season and handed Detroit an 88-76 setback on November 9 at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Boston has won three straight in this series, but the Pistons are 14-4 in the previous 18 matchups.
Detroit has won seven of nine trips to Beantown.
<< Oden successful in home debut; Blazers blitz Bulls
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Roy scored 20 points and Greg Oden had
a successful regular season home debut, as the Portland Trail Blazers
dominated the Chicago Bulls to the tune of 116-74 at the Rose Garden.
The game mar
<< Boozer injured in win over Bucks
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer suffered
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Bucks.
Boozer, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds, left the game in the four
<< Billups, Denver top Spurs for fourth straight win
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chauncey Billups scored 22 points, doled
out six assists and hauled in five rebounds to lead the Denver Nuggets in a
91-81 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
"We've just come in every night focused
<< Ovechkin leads Caps past Ducks
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Ovechkin registered a goal and three
assists, as the Washington Capitals defeated the Anaheim Ducks, 6-4, at Honda
Center.
David Steckel had a goal and an assist, while Michael Nylander collected
Blue Devils take on Salukis in Madison Square Garden >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 10th-ranked Duke Blue Devils and Southern
Illinois Salukis have made the trek to the Big Apple, for semifinal action in
the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer from famed Madison Square
Garden. Th
Tigers tangle with Mocs in Puerto Rico Tip-Off >>
San Juan, PR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 13th-ranked Memphis Tigers and the
Chattanooga Mocs have traveled to San Juan for the opening round of the Puerto
Rico Tip-Off.
Chattanooga, which competes in the Southern Conference, has certainly
challe
Bruins battle Wolverines in the Big Apple >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The fourth-ranked UCLA Bruins are set to take
on the Michigan Wolverines in semifinal action of the 2K Sports Classic
Benefiting Coaches vs. Classic from Madison Square Garden this evening. The
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Gators and Thunderbirds get together in Gainesville >>
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 18th-ranked Florida Gators seek their
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O'Connell Center.
Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their “supplements” to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this won’t be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a “truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit.” And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. “The plug-necked yahoos on your team,” you can say, “will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.”
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesn’t focus only on your opponent’s team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Where’s your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, “I’ll try to type slower for you next time.” Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, don’t just conclude by saying your opponent is a “twerp who drafts like my grandmother.” Say that your opponent is a “sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars.” By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You won’t be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, I’m sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.
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